With natural gas cooling equipment drawing near, Canada LNG export terminal on track for first cargo in mid-2025

LNG Canada, a joint venture between Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, KOGAS, and Mitsubishi, is awaiting the arrival of refrigerants in the form of liquified petroleum gas that will be used for cooling the natural gas delivered to its future liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Kitimat, Canada’s British Columbia.

Commissioning and start-up activities for the LNG Canada project are in full swing as developers say that Phase 1 of the LNG export facility in Kitimat is more than 90% complete. The forthcoming activities include taking delivery of a shipment of refrigerants arriving onboard the Gaschem Atlantic – a 2009-built gas tanker with a capacity to hold 8,500 cubic meters (cbm) owned by Hamburg-based GasChem Services.

Starting from the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, the ship crossed the Panama Canal to reach British Columbia’s Pacific coast. It was set to be anchored at the Port of Prince Rupert in early August before arriving at the LNG Canada marine terminal for unloading.  

These refrigerants will be used to cool natural gas delivered to LNG Canada via the Coastal GasLink pipeline, thus minimizing flaring activities. Once the facility is up and running, the JV intends to produce its own refrigerants. As flaring is scheduled to start in August, the partners are convinced that the first ship carrying LNG produced onsite can be expected by mid-2025.

This comes on the heels of another milestone – the final weld being placed on the plant’s first production train a month ago. With an initial capacity to produce 12.7 metric tonnes (14 million tons) of LNG per year, the Ktimiat facility will comprise, among other things, a natural gas receiving and LNG production unit, a marine terminal for two LNG carriers, a tugboat dock, and LNG loading lines.