The Ksi Lisims LNG project, to be built on the northern coast of British Columbia on Nisga’a Nation territory in Canada, announced that it has signed a 20-year long-term supply agreement in the form of a Heads of Agreement (HOA) for LNG supply with Australia’s Santos. The announcement was made on September 14, and Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources formalized it on September 15.
Ksi Lisims LNG is an LNG liquefaction and export terminal project on Canada’s northern British Columbia coast involving Western LNG, the Nisga’a Nation, and Rockies LNG, among others. This agreement marks the project’s third international offtake deal, following earlier agreements with Germany’s Uniper and SEFE. The project remains at the pre-Final Investment Decision (FID) stage and has been referred to Canada’s Major Projects Office (MPO).
The total project cost is CA$30 billion, making it reportedly Canada’s second-largest LNG terminal. Total export capacity is 12 million tonnes per year (mtpa), and this agreement with Santos covers a supply volume of 1 million tonnes per year over 20 years.
Canada has been pursuing successive large-scale LNG export projects following LNG Canada (Phase 1), leveraging the geographic advantage of British Columbia’s northern coast, which offers the shortest shipping routes to Asia. Ksi Lisims LNG is cited as a leading example of an Indigenous partnership model in which the Nisga’a Nation plays a leading participatory role.
This agreement demonstrates that Ksi Lisims LNG is building commercial viability at the pre-FID stage by successively securing international offtake agreements. That a company like Australia’s Santos, which holds its own domestic LNG resources, is also securing Canadian LNG volumes is interpreted as a strategy to diversify its supply portfolio for Asian and European customers, which also aligns with a broader trend of increasing inter-regional volume swaps and resale in the global LNG trading industry. As LNG projects on Canada’s west coast continue to accumulate international offtake agreements, Canada is becoming a more concrete additional supply source option for Asian LNG buyers beyond Qatar and the United States. The model of Indigenous community participation in equity and decision-making could also serve as a reference for securing permitting approval and social acceptance for future resource development projects in Canada.
A primary point to watch is when the outcome of the Major Projects Office (MPO) review and the actual FID timing will be finalized. Whether further international offtake agreements will follow beyond this Santos deal, and the progress of sales for the remaining volume out of the total 12 million tonnes export capacity, are also of interest. In addition, when the liquefaction facility EPC procurement and pipeline connection plans will be concretized needs to be confirmed.