Contract kickstarts engineering work on world’s largest FLNG project

The front-end engineering design (FEED) contract for the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG Project was announced at LNG 2023, held 10-13 July in Vancouver. One of the most ambitious indigenous-led LNG projects in western Canada, the Ksi Lisims LNG Project is being jointly developed by Western LNG, the Nisga’a Nation and Rockies LNG.

Besides its substantial capacity, the Ksi Lisims LNG Project plans to be a net-zero floating LNG plant when it begins commercial export operations in 2028.

At the heart of the planned BC LNG export facility are two near-shore floating LNG units that will be built by SHI and incorporate Black & Veatch’s PRICO liquefaction technology to produce a combined 12 mta of LNG.

The combined capacity of the two vessels will make “this the largest floating LNG export facility in the world,” Black & Veatch offshore and marine industry energy resources industries vice president and managing director Javid Talib told us in an interview. He said the two FLNG vessels will be equipped with three trains capable of producing 2M tonnes of LNG each for a total of 6 mta. The topsides and hulls for the floating export plants would be built by SHI.

Ksi Lisims LNG’s total capacity of 12 mta nearly matches the total nameplate capacity (12.1 mta) of the five FLNG vessels operating as of April 2023 and is more than three times the capacity of the largest of those, Shell’s Prelude FLNG. Located in the Browse Basin off the coast of Western Australia, Prelude FLNG has a nameplate liquefaction capacity of 3.6 mta.

Developers see FLNG design technology as a means to improve the project’s economics, minimise environmental and operational impacts on land and reduce construction-related risk.

Two natural gas pipeline projects are being evaluated for Ksi Lisims LNG, both of which have secured regulatory approvals. Plans call for the liquefaction facility to receive 1.7 to 2.0 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

Ksi Lisims LNG Project will be sited on the Nisga’a Nation’s treaty lands on the northern tip of Pearse Island on the Portland Canal, west of Gingolx, BC.