First of all, yes, of course; as I said earlier, we will move whatever needs to be moved. The world LNG fleet, the fleet of LNG carriers, is rapidly expanding. It's about 300 ships now. By 2015 or 2016, it will be about 400 ships. So the capacity to move western Canadian exports, in the time window 2018 to 2020, which is probably what we're looking at, will definitely be there.
It's very important that we do, however, focus on the point that Mr. Rubin was making, which is that the price of LNG will ultimately determine whether these projects go forward. We currently have seven announced projects in northern British Columbia. We have five in Kitimat and two most certain, and probably two more, in Prince Rupert, which would make nine if they all go forward. It's unlikely they will all go forward, but some will go forward.
The difficulty, as Mr. Rubin was alluding to, is that traditionally the price of LNG has been tied directly to oil, and the consuming countries, led by Japan, are seeking to decouple that link. So the potential of much cheaper LNG from the United States will have a very direct bearing on whether these projects are financially viable going forward.
We certainly can't lose sight of that. We do have a provincial government that is banking on a huge revenue gain from LNG exports going forward. We have to be very cautious about that. When you start talking about heavily taxing LNG exports, that will add to development costs. Also, there are other options of course.
What we are seeing today is that one major project in Australia has already been sidelined, the Browse project of Western Australia. It's a $40-billion development project. They're now looking at a floating liquefaction plant, which is a Shell concept, to replace it. The problem that I see going forward in Kitimat is very similar. The development costs, because Kitimat is relatively remote, in getting goods and people into Kitimat to get these terminals developed and up and running will be a significant logistical challenge.
As far as carrying LNG is concerned, we have no difficulties in that. LNG has been transported by sea for almost 50 years very, very safely, almost without incident. The technology that we're building into those ships.... They're very technologically advanced, sophisticated and expensive ships. They are cutting edge in terms of our industry.
So we have no difficulty...although I think it is worth thinking about the numbers. Last year the demand for LNG around the world was 240 million tonnes. By 2020 it will be 400 million tonnes. There's great opportunity for Canada there.