Shell CEO Wael Sawan knows a thing or two about LNG markets. His company is the largest trader of the super-chilled methane fuel in the world. But even Shell is starting to worry about the massive buildout of new LNG export terminals, as global demand begins to slow.

Speaking on stage at the Economic Club of New York this week, Sawan warned the speed at which investors are greenlighting hugely expensive new LNG plants is “not economically fully rational”. 

His comments echo the CEO of Gulfstream LNG in Louisiana, who said last month “it’s a bit like the dotcom boom [...] we are kind of losing sight of the plot here. The industry is actually growing too fast.”

In other words, “drill baby drill” Donald Trump and his billionaire allies are whipping up another Wall Street bubble. But in the real world, electricity from solar and wind is now cheaper than new gas-fired power plants. So in China, Japan and Korea, LNG imports are falling steadily.

Shell’s response is to push back its Final Investment Decision on phase 2 of the LNG Canada terminal in Kitimat to sometime next year.

But Canadian politicians have bet the farm on new LNG terminals, believing that a golden era of gas exports will balance the books, patch the potholes and jack up job numbers so they can win re-election.

This fantasy is falling apart. And the worry is politicians won’t be able to pivot to a new plan. They might actually stick to believing that pumping more public money into LNG proposals will save the industry they’ve wagered our future economy on. 

Will our leaders come back to reality? Or gamble away our future on Wall Street’s LNG bubble?