LNG Canada has asked government regulators to increase the amount of LNG the facility is allowed to export each year.
The facility’s executives asked the Canada Energy Regulator to boost its annual export limit by 6.4%, Natural Gas Intelligence reported on Aug. 12.
The request is not for a simple increase in capacity. Instead, LNG Canada is adjusting its production to better match its current building schedule, the company said in its application filed Aug. 6.
The facility seeks to produce more, now, because of the delays facing further expansion, the company explained.
LNG Canada is a Shell-led joint venture with Petronas, Mitsubishi, PetroChina and Kogas. The facility shipped its first cargo from its first train in June. The second train is expected to enter production by the end of the year.
LNG Canada is still marketing its Phase 2 development of two more trains. If a successful final investment decision is reached, the company expects production to start in the early 2030s.
At the time the Canada government granted the license, “it was expected that completion of construction of Trains 3 and 4 would follow closely on the heels of completion of Trains 1 and 2, with the trains successively entering service in approximately 6-month intervals, such that the LNG Canada Project would ramp up to full capacity within 18 months of initial start-up,” the company wrote in its application.
The current limits are based on a fully operational facility. LNG Canada seeks the change to recognize the delayed Phase 2 so that the first two trains can help make up the shortfall in production, the company said.