TC Energy will proceed with its Coastal GasLink pipeline project after LNG Canada's investment decision opened the way for the Alberta-to-British Columbia gas transportation link, The Globe and Mail reports.

The announcement settles a sequencing question that had hung over both projects. Coastal GasLink, a TC Energy undertaking, exists to move Montney and other Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin gas westward to the LNG Canada export facility at Kitimat, on the British Columbia coast. Without a liquefaction plant under construction, the pipeline had no contracted destination. With LNG Canada's partners committing to build, TC Energy now has the anchor demand it needs to sanction the line.

LNG Canada is a joint venture led by Shell, with partners including Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and KOGAS. The Kitimat complex represents the first large-scale LNG export project on Canada's west coast, giving WCSB producers access to Asian spot and term markets for the first time. Coastal GasLink is the sole feedgas conduit to that plant, which positions the pipeline as the gating infrastructure for the entire value chain.

For producers in the Montney play straddling Alberta and British Columbia, the decision carries weight beyond a single pipeline. Coastal GasLink adds west coast egress to a basin that has historically depended on domestic demand and exports to the United States, where associated gas from Permian and other US plays has compressed pipeline economics and pricing. Each new outlet changes netback arithmetic for gas-weighted operators, though the scale of that benefit will depend on LNG Canada's offtake ramp and future expansion phases.

For TC Energy, the project extends a portfolio that spans mainline gas transmission, liquids pipelines and power. The Calgary-based company has positioned Coastal GasLink as the western leg of a broader strategy to link basin supply to export demand. Sanctioning the line converts that strategy from planning into construction, with the associated capital spend, contractor awards and permitting follow-through that implies.

The decision also carries weight for British Columbia. Kitimat-area construction, camp logistics, pipeline spreads across northern BC and First Nations engagement along the route all become active work fronts. Coastal GasLink's route crosses territory subject to unresolved Aboriginal title claims, a factor that has shaped — and will continue to shape — the project's legal and operational risk profile. TC Energy has pursued benefit agreements with affected communities, and construction execution against that backdrop will be a key metric for watch.

The sequencing between the two decisions reflects standard LNG project economics: liquefaction capacity moves first, because it anchors the offtake contracts that justify upstream supply, gathering and transmission investment. Pipeline sanction follows once feedgas demand is firm. The Globe and Mail's report confirms that sequence has now completed its first cycle for Canada's LNG sector — final investment on the plant, followed by sanction of the pipe that feeds it.

Sanction is not startup. Construction schedules for both the pipeline and the Kitimat terminal remain ahead, along with commissioning gas flows, first cargo timing and the ramp to nameplate capacity. Market participants will also track whether an LNG Canada expansion phase — a second train set long contemplated by the partners — advances far enough to justify looping or upsizing on Coastal GasLink downstream the road.

Watch items from here: contractor awards and pipeline construction start on the Coastal GasLink right-of-way, First Nations benefit-agreement and litigation developments along the route, and any timeline LNG Canada partners attach to first gas and first cargo from Kitimat.