Government of Canada Invests in Kitimat LNG Facility

Canada's Minister of Finance Bill Morneau has confirmed the Government of Canada’s $275 million investment in LNG Canada’s complex in Kitimat, British Columbia. The $40 billion project represents the largest single private sector investment in the history of the country.

The project includes a liquefaction facility, a 670-kilometer pipeline from Dawson Creek and a marine terminal. At full capacity, the terminal could convert and export as much as 26 million tons of LNG per year, primarily to Asia. This represents roughly 20 percent of overall gas production in Canada.

LNG Canada received the required regulatory approvals in 2015, and construction activities began in October 2018, with a target in-service date of the middle of the next decade.

The government's investment will include $220 million to help fund highly energy-efficient gas turbines for LNG Canada, minimizing both greenhouse gas emissions and fuel use. The additional $55 million will be for the replacement of the Haisla Bridge in the District of Kitimat to support and service existing and increased traffic in the region.

In return, the government expects the facility will create over 10,000  jobs and lead to billions of dollars in direct government revenues and hundreds of millions of dollars in construction contracts for Indigenous businesses.

“The Government of Canada has enabled LNG Canada’s development of the lowest carbon content LNG for export in the world today,” says Andy Calitz, CEO of LNG Canada.

LNG Canada is a joint venture among Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and KOGAS.