Canada’s National Energy Board Approves LNG Canada's Export Licence

Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB) has decided to issue a 40-year export licence to LNG Canada, a joint venture between Shell and three major Asian energy companies.

“We have determined that the quantity of natural gas proposed to be exported by LNG Canada, for a term of 40 years, is surplus to Canadian needs. The Board is satisfied that the natural gas resource base in Canada, as well as North America overall, is large and can accommodate reasonably foreseeable Canadian demand, including the natural gas exports proposed in this Application, and a plausible potential increase in demand,” NEB said in a statement issues earlier this month.

LNG Canada is the first applicant for a 40 year LNG export licence. Up until now, LNG export licences had been for 25 years. This longer term is made available because of recent changes to the National Energy Board Act.

LNG Canada is a joint venture company comprised of Shell Canada Energy (50%), an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc, and affiliates of PetroChina (20%), Korea Gas Corporation (15%) and Mitsubishi Corporation (15%). The joint venture is proposing to build an LNG export facility in Kitimat that initially consists of two LNG processing units, each with the capacity to produce 6.5 million tons per annum of LNG annually, with an option to expand the project in the future to four trains.

No FID has yet been made regarding the project.