LNG Canada has formally proceeded with its $33 billion expansion project, committing to a second phase at the Kitimat export terminal on British Columbia's coast.

The expansion sanction adds to a facility that shipped its first cargo from Phase 1 in June 2024, marking the start of LNG exports from Canada's West Coast after years of construction near the port town of Kitimat, at the head of the Douglas Channel.

The $33 billion figure covers the expansion scope and ranks among the largest private-sector energy investments in Canadian history, echoing the scale of the original Phase 1 build, which itself carried an estimated price tag in the same range when Shell and its partners sanctioned it in 2018.

Phase 1 of the terminal comprises two liquefaction trains fed by Coastal GasLink pipeline gas from northeastern British Columbia's Montney play. The expansion proceeds on the same feed arrangements, drawing on a basin that has attracted sustained producer spending since the pipeline entered service.

Shell plc leads the LNG Canada joint venture alongside Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corp., and Korea Gas Corp., with Shell holding the operatorship of the venture. TC Energy holds the Coastal GasLink pipeline that connects the supply basin to the terminal.

The decision to proceed signals sustained sponsor confidence in West Coast LNG economics despite a crowded global liquefaction queue and softening spot prices in Asian markets, where the terminal's short shipping distance relative to US Gulf Coast projects has underpinned its marketing case.

For the Kitimat-area workforce and British Columbia's broader supply chain, the sanction extends a construction cycle that at its peak made LNG Canada one of the largest industrial employers in the province.

The watch item now is the expansion's construction timeline and train-level startup sequencing, which the partners have yet to detail publicly — timing that will determine when additional Canadian cargoes begin to weigh on Pacific Basin supply.