VANCOUVER - In the race to supply the world with natural gas, Canada's British Columbia (BC) province is trying to get to the front of a crowded line of global suppliers trying to enter China's booming market.

The BC provincial government has tied itself to its nascent Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry. Provincial Premier Christy Clark told delegates and potential investors at a government-hosted LNG conference here Wednesday that natural gas was her government's "central pre-occupation."

BC currently has more than a dozen proposed LNG projects, all vying for access to the province's estimated 150-year-worth of natural gas reserves in its northeast corner. The government aims to put at least three LNG plants in operation by 2020, with China targeted as the main market.

"There will be more than enough demand of natural gas in China to keep Canada competitive with current LNG producers such as Australia, the United States and Qatar," she said.

"It's always a competitive landscape. There is no question about it, but we intend to be very competitive. The investment is still underway."

While foreign investors from China, Malaysia and other countries continue to mull whether or not to invest in BC's LNG reserves and pipelines, Clark said China should view BC as a good supplier due to the its political stability, location and well-educated workforce.

During a panel discussion at the opening of the three-day conference, industry delegates, including Andy Calitz of LNG Canada, stressed customers had most of the power in the global energy industry.

Calitz said BC must build an extremely competitive LNG industry to crack into the world market and must not assume that China ultimately cares about where its gas comes from so long as it's getting it.

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