{"id":45847,"date":"2026-05-15T00:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45847\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:24:07","slug":"b-c-ottawa-reach-pact-to-support-lng-canadas-expansion-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45847\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C., Ottawa reach pact to support LNG Canada\u2019s expansion plans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, right, announces the LNG Canada pact alongside B.C. Premier David Eby, centre, and B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix in Vancouver on Thursday.Jennifer Gauthier\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The British Columbia government and Ottawa have reached a pact with LNG Canada to support expansion plans at the B.C. terminal for exporting liquefied natural gas to Asia.<\/p>\n

The new agreement is being touted as one that will provide \u201cenhanced investment co-operation and actions\u201d between government and LNG Canada, which is considering doubling the capacity at its terminal in Kitimat in northwestern B.C. But the expansion, known as Phase 2, is still contingent on LNG Canada\u2019s private owners deciding to move forward.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Energy Minister Tim Hodgson described Thursday\u2019s pact as a \u201cmilestone\u201d for the expansion project, which Prime Minister Mark Carney also endorsed when he referred it to the Major Projects Office last fall.<\/p>\n

The office is part of a federal strategy to fast-track resource and infrastructure projects following U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n

London-based Shell PLC owns the largest stake in LNG Canada at 40 per cent, followed by Malaysia\u2019s state-owned Petronas (25 per cent), Japan-based Mitsubishi (15 per cent), PetroChina (15 per cent) and South Korea\u2019s Kogas (5 per cent).<\/p>\n

Shell and the other co-owners are expected to make a final decision by the end of 2026 on whether to forge ahead with their potential Phase 2 expansion of the Kitimat terminal.<\/p>\n

Shell sees strong case for second phase of LNG Canada after conversations with governments<\/a><\/p>\n

The new agreement will \u201ccollectively progress closure of final items\u201d LNG Canada needs to address before making that decision, the joint venture and two levels of government said in a news release. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement follows a decision on May 1, 2026, by LNG Canada\u2019s joint venture participants to approve hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental funding to help finalize critical work scopes to achieve a potential [final investment decision] by the end of the year,\u201d Thursday\u2019s joint statement said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hodgson made the joint announcement at a Vancouver news conference on Thursday with B.C. Premier David Eby, B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix and LNG Canada chief executive officer Chris Cooper.<\/p>\n

LNG Canada became this country\u2019s first export terminal for the fuel last June, when it began shipping to Asia. The export facility is located on a sprawling industrial site on the Haisla Nation\u2019s traditional territory in Kitimat.<\/p>\n

Critics say climate and health impacts are being ignored, including the effects of LNG Canada\u2019s excessive flaring of natural gas. They are urging governments to put the brakes on LNG development on the West Coast and fracking for natural gas in northeastern B.C.<\/p>\n

Those opposed include Environmental Defence, Stand.earth, My Sea to Sky, Dogwood, David Suzuki Foundation and Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE). \u201cWe need to pause and understand the full health impacts of the LNG facilities we have, before launching new ones,\u201d Tim Takaro, a CAPE representative, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

LNG Canada\u2019s Phase 1 has the capacity to export 14 million tonnes of the fuel per year, though the project could increase that figure to 15 million tonnes through operating efficiencies. Under Phase 2, the terminal\u2019s export capacity could double to as much as 30 million tonnes a year.<\/p>\n

In March, LNG Canada agreed to take the lead role on the potential expansion of the Coastal GasLink pipeline that transports natural gas from northeastern B.C. to Kitimat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, right, announces the LNG Canada pact alongside B.C.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-45847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-travel","51":"tag-trudeau","52":"tag-us-news","53":"tag-world-news","54":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}