Canada's proposed Ksi Lisims LNG export facility is in talks with several European utilities interested in purchasing liquefied natural gas from the West Coast of Canada, the CEO of Houston-based Western LNG, the lead proponent of the project, said in an interview on Wednesday.
Davis Thames said Ksi Lisims expects to be able to announce additional agreements shortly, following a deal earlier in the day to supply Germany’s state-owned energy firm SEFE.
He said Ksi Lisims, which currently has five million tonnes per year of its planned total 12 million tonne capacity allotted, wants to secure offtake agreements for an additional three million to four million tonnes of production before committing to a final investment decision to start construction.
The project expects to reach that level of contracted capacity this summer, he said. Asia has long been seen as the logical market for Canadian LNG, due to the shorter shipping times to that continent from Canada's Pacific Coast compared with the US gulf.
But the wars in Iran and Ukraine have prompted European customers to consider Canada even though they would not have before, Thames said.
"Things are different now. Given the current state of facts, I really understand why these buyers are interested in Canadian LNG," he said.
Ksi Lisims, which would be built on the British Columbia coast and which has already secured offtake deals from Shell and Total, would be Canada's second-largest liquefied natural gas export facility if it goes ahead.
Project proponents are still working to secure financing, but have said a final investment decision could come within months.
"If we do this right and the timing sticks with us, I think we'll be ready to go to construction by the end of the year," Thames said.
In addition to Western LNG, Ksi Lisims is backed by a consortium of Canadian natural gas producers called Rockies LNG, and the Nisga'a First Nation, which owns the land for the project.
But several Indigenous groups have challenged the pipeline needed to supply the facility, while environmental activists have criticised Canada's recent pivot toward fossil fuels.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson in Calgary; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and Matthew Lewis)
