Kitimat LNG project in Canada close to 85% complete

July 10, 2023, by Aida Čučuk

Kitimat LNG project in Canada is close to 85% complete overall and the first cargoes are on the horizon, LNG Canada, a joint venture of Shell, PETRONAS, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and Korea Gas Corporation, has announced on its social media.

While presenting the company’s mid-year update, Jason Klein, LNG Canada’s CEO, called 2023 an “exceptional year” of progress for the company, the project and the communities, noting: “With our project now close to 85% complete overall, we remain on track to shipping our first cargoes of low-carbon, made-in B.C. LNG, by mid-decade.”

“Our LNG will provide security of supply for global markets that can rely on Canada’s natural gas reserves to advance their economies and reduce global GHG emissions.”

Klein said that the cumulative value of the company’s project contracts and subcontracts to local, Indigenous and other businesses in British Columbia (B.C.) alone continues to grow, and has now exceeded $4 billion in total.

In regard to Phase 2, Klein stated that LNG Canada has identified potential opportunities to further advance electrification at the export facility in Kitimat, and called on BC Hydro and the provincial government to find the pathways needed to unlock that potential:

“While our Phase 2 final investment decision (FID) must also take into account overall competitiveness, affordability, future GHG emissions, and, of course, timelines, our discussions with the government have been encouraging. Premier Eby and his government are aware of the benefits that further LNG development in B.C. can offer, and how it is already helping advance reconciliation with First Nations and Indigenous peoples.”

“As societies transition towards a net-zero world, people want and expect access to cleaner, lower-carbon energy. Together, with B.C. communities and the support and encouragement from all levels of government, LNG Canada can play an even greater role in this energy transition.”

When completed, the Kitimat LNG facility will consist of a natural gas receiving and LNG production unit, a marine terminal with the capacity to accommodate two LNG carriers, a tugboat dock and LNG loading lines. It will also include LNG processing units, storage tanks, a rail yard, a water treatment facility and flare stacks.

Its production capacity is planned at 14 million mtpa from the first two trains, with the potential to expand to four trains in the future.

To remind, in June 2023, it was announced that concrete has been poured for the construction of a floating tugboat maintenance facility that is set to be the home base for the “greenest tugboat fleet in the world.”

HaiSea Marine, majority owned by the Haisla First Nation in partnership with Seaspan, contracted Pacific Marine Construction to build this floating tugboat maintenance facility that will host HaiSea’s fleet of LNG-powered and fully electric tugs required for the Kitimat LNG export facility.