Finally, Someone Gets AI - Canadian Gas Producers Hyping Data Centers As Lifeline For Their Industry
Canadian natural gas producers are hyping AI data centres as the next growth opportunity for their polluting product on investor calls. DeSmog dove into transcripts from recent investor calls and found that gas companies are promoting a massive build-out of controversial server farms as their next growth sector even as the energy transition accelerates, opposition to data centres increases, and climate change undermines already-low gas prices.
TC Energy, which operates natural gas pipelines across North America and owns gas-fired power plants told investors in their Q4 report, “We continue to see growing demand across multiple segments, driving potential expansion projects to support new natural gas-fired power generation, coal to natural gas conversions, LDC [Local Distribution Company] growth and data centres.” The energy company plans to complete the $900 million Northwoods pipeline project to the U.S. Midwest by 2029, which will supply 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to power data centres in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Ohio.
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Meanwhile, overseas export markets for LNG are rapidly shifting towards cheaper and less risky renewables, accelerated by energy security issues highlighted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. “The Republic of Korea as a whole must move very quickly toward renewable energy,” warned South Korean President Lee Jae Myung Lee in March. “Our future will be at serious risk if we continue to rely on fossil fuels.” Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong recently informed shareholders the Vietnamese conglomerate had cancelled plans to build 4.8-gigawatt project LNG power plant, which would the county’s largest. Vuong instead informed investors, “We have already submitted a proposal to the government for wind, solar energy, and a battery energy storage system.”
Will AI data centres provide a long-term lifeline to Canadian natural gas producers? Companies certainly hope so. “The whole industry is falling all over ourselves to find a way to draw investment here to increase demand for our energy and to avoid the commodity otherwise being wasted at rock-bottom prices,” Mike Belenkie, CEO of natural gas producer Advantage Energy recently told Reuters. Not everyone agrees with the self-serving and symbiotic agenda of Big Gas and Big Tech. Manitoba Premier WabKinew recently rejected a proposed massive data centre in his province and believes citizens somehow have a higher calling than boosting prices for fossil fuel companies. “I would much rather have technology serve the people of Manitoba than have the people of Manitoba serve technology,” Kinew told the legislature.
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https://www.desmog.com/2026/07/02/canadian-gas-ceos-are-hyping-ai-data-centres-to-investors-as-a-lifeline-for-their-industry/
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