Canada green lights Chevron-operated Kitimat LNG

If the application is approved by the governor in council, Chevron Canada said it intends to export up to 28.23Bn m³ of natural gas per year from the Kitimat LNG facility in British Columbia.

Chevron will be the operator of a proposed LNG export terminal to be constructed and operated at Bish Cove, near the town of Kitimat, BC. The proposed Kitimat LNG Project is a 50/50 joint venture between Chevron Canada Limited and Woodside Energy International (Canada) Limited.

The Chevron-operated project comprises upstream resource assets in the Liard and Horn River Basins in northeast BC; the 471-km Pacific Trail Pipeline (PTP); and an LNG facility at Bish Cove near Kitimat. The Kitimat LNG Plant includes up to three LNG trains with a nameplate capacity totalling 18 mta of LNG. The LNG export facility will be an all-electric plant powered by clean, renewable hydroelectricity from BC Hydro.

The LNG export licence issued to Chevron Canada is subject to an early expiration clause, causing it to expire within 10 years of governor in council approval if LNG exports under the licence have not commenced.

Analysts have speculated that Chevron and Woodside would not make an FID on the KitImat LNG project in the mid-2020s, following on to the commissioning of Shell’s US$40Bn LNG Canada project in Kitimat, which will have two trains with a total nameplate capacity of 14 mta of LNG. Exports of LNG to Asia could get underway by 2024.

Woodfibre LNG, a third LNG export facility near Squamish in British Columbia, is expected to make FID before the end of the year. Located on the site of a former paper mill, Woodfibre LNG will have a nameplate capacity of 2.1 mta of LNG.