Major LNG terminal and gas pipeline headline Ottawa’s nation-building projects list

Eva Clayton, elected president of the Nisga’a Lisims government, speaks in September at the announcement that the B.C. government had approved the environmental assessment certificate for the Ksi Lisims LNG project. Ottawa announced Thursday that the project will be referred to a new federal office designed to streamline the regulatory approvals process. Photo by Herman Thind/Government of B.C.

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An oil pipeline didn’t make Ottawa’s latest list of nation-building projects, but a major proposed liquefied natural gas facility — and the pipeline that would supply it — headlined $56-billion worth of energy and mining developments unveiled Thursday.

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A project poised to become the country’s second largest LNG export terminal, Ksi Lisims LNG on British Columbia’s northwest coast, is among the latest batch of projects to be referred to Ottawa’s new Major Projects Office, Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed Thursday.

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“LNG is an essential fuel for the energy transition. LNG can help Canada build new trading relationships, especially in fast growing markets in Asia,” Carney said, pointing to recent forecasts from Shell PLC predicting a 60 per cent rise in global LNG demand by 2040.

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“Canada will be ready. We’re home to the world’s fourth largest reserves of natural gas, and we have the potential to supply up to 100 million tons annually of new LNG exports to Asia, but that will require major investment across a wide range of infrastructure.”

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Thursday’s announcement also included three critical minerals developments in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, and major transmission and conservation projects in B.C., Nunavut and the Yukon.

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The list did not include an oil pipeline, but Ksi Lisims LNG entails construction of a new, roughly 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline through northern B.C.

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The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline will carry gas out of the B.C.-Alberta Montney play, traversing the territories of several Indigenous nations before reaching the project’s floating LNG terminal on Nisga’a Nation territory near Prince Rupert.

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The joint venture between the Nisga’a Nation, Houston-based developer Western LNG and a consortium of mostly Canadian-headquartered gas producers, known as Rockies LNG, has already received its major regulatory approvals.

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Ksi Lisims LNG concept of a floating LNG liquefaction plant. Photo by Western LNG

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Ksi Lisims LNG is expected to run entirely on hydroelectricity — provided B.C. completes its planned $6-billion transmission upgrade in the region — a step that would make it the world’s lowest-carbon LNG, Carney said.

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But the project has also faced opposition from some Indigenous and environmental groups, including two Federal Court challenges last month from the neighbouring Lax Kw’alaams Band and the Metlakatla First Nations, as well as petitions to the B.C. Supreme Court challenging PRGT.

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The Nisga’a Nation which is a partner on the LNG project — and joint-owner with Western LNG on the PRGT pipeline — said recently it was working with Indigenous communities to strike project agreements, including equity stakes in the pipeline.

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Western LNG chief executive Davis Thames said Thursday that a final investment decision on Ksi Lisims LNG is likely to come early next year.