LNG Canada achieves first production of liquefied natural gas in Kitimat, B.C.

CBC News

· Posted: Jun 23, 2025 4:34 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

LNG Canada has started producing liquefied earthy state for export astatine its installation successful Kitimat, B.C., astir 650 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

A spokesperson confirmed Sunday the institution has "safely achieved its archetypal production" of LNG.

The West Coast works volition person earthy gas, transported via the Coastal GasLink pipeline from adjacent Dawson Creek successful the province's northeast, chill it, and vessel it to Asian markets.

The installation is the archetypal large-scale Canadian LNG task to statesman accumulation and besides the archetypal large LNG installation successful North America with nonstop entree to the Pacific coast, importantly reducing sail clip to Asian markets erstwhile compared to U.S. Gulf Coast facilities.

It is expected to export 14 cardinal tonnes of LNG a year, creating adjacent to 300 ongoing jobs astatine an estimated worth of $575 cardinal annually for 40 years, according to the B.C. government. A projected Phase 2 would summation the export magnitude to 28 cardinal tonnes annually.

Costing $40 billion, the Canadian authorities has said the task is the "largest azygous backstage assemblage concern successful the past of the country," with backing from Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and the Korea Gas Corp.

LISTEN | An LNG Canada vice-president discusses the company's adjacent steps to get up and running: 

Kitimat Mayor Phil Germouth said LNG Canada is an illustration different large infrastructure builders should follow.

"They intelligibly acceptable a golden modular erstwhile it comes to getting communities connected side, getting First Nations connected side," Germouth told CBC's main governmental analogous Rosemary Barton. 

"They've done a fantastic occupation of that."

LNG Canada says it is connected way to load archetypal cargoes by the mediate of 2025.

What is LNG?

LNG is made from earthy gas, a fossil substance often extracted from northeast B.C. and Alberta done a signifier called hydraulic fracturing, oregon fracking. 

It involves drilling down into the crushed and injecting a substance of water, soil and chemicals into the crushed to unit the merchandise of the lipid and gas.

The state is past shipped via pipeline to terminals, which chill it to astir –160 C, astatine which constituent it tin beryllium shipped overseas for usage arsenic a fuel.

LNG is often referred to arsenic "clean" due to the fact that burning it for substance causes less emissions than ember oregon oil, but that assertion is disputed by immoderate analysts due to the fact that of the vigor and demolition it takes to produce.

One of the known impacts of fracking is an summation successful earthquakes, which person been felt with expanding frequence successful B.C.'s Peace River portion successful caller years.

Two different smaller LNG export facilities are besides nether operation successful B.C. 

The facilities, Woodfibre LNG (near Squamish) and Cedar LNG (in Kitimat), are expected to beryllium completed betwixt 2027 and 2028.