CALGARY — LNG Canada is moving ahead with a major expansion of its Kitimat, B.C., export terminal that will double its liquefied natural gas capacity to 28 million tonnes a year.The project was among the first five referred to Ottawa’s major projects office last year, the Canadian Press reported. The terminal began shipping LNG in 2025.Phase 2 will add two processing units, known as trains, along with another LNG storage tank, a condensate tank, a loading berth and expanded utility and processing systems. LNG Canada is also working with Coastal GasLink to increase capacity on its existing 670-kilometre pipeline by building five compressor stations. .LNG Canada CEO Chris Cooper said the expansion will create thousands of jobs and strengthen Canada’s position as an energy supplier.“LNG Canada Phase 2 is another nation-building investment that demonstrates Canada can build big things when governments, First Nations partners, local communities, skilled trades, contractors and investors work together with shared purpose,” Cooper said in a statement.The decision comes as Asian customers seek more secure and diverse energy supplies amid the Iran conflict and uncertainty over tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.The project is owned by a joint venture involving Shell, Malaysia’s Petronas, PetroChina, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. and South Korea’s KOGAS.In July, LNG Canada signed an agreement giving MNT Investments LP the option to spend up to $1 billion on a stake in Phase 2.The partnership represents economic development organizations of the Gitga’at, Gitxaała, Haisla, Kitselas and Kitsumkalum First Nations in the region..At a press conference on Sunday. Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre predicted that Prime Minister Mark Carney would take credit for the project when the official announcement was made on Tuesday, reminding reporters that the project was permitted in 2016 and "all of the pre-permitting research and work was done by the earlier Harper government.""If Mark Carney shows up at the LNG plant to take credit, what he should do is actually apologize for the fact that it took a decade for this project to even get a final investment decision, and part of the delay was due to the federal government originally requiring that it be powered exclusively by hydroelectricity when obviously natural gas is the best way to power it," Poilievre said. He added that the prime minister should be repealing the industrial carbon tax and "pre-permitting zones for LNG plants." "Let's complete a dozen LNG facilities in the next five years rather than bragging that it took ten years to go from a permit to an investment decision," Poilievre said."[Conservatives] want to get refineries built so Canadian energy goes to Canadian consumers so that when you put gas in your pump, in your tank, when you fill up your truck with diesel, you have the satisfaction of knowing that it comes from Canada and it's in Canadian control and that you're paying a lower price as a result.”
