LNG Canada, a Shell-led venture, increased production and exports to Asia this month, LSEG data show, as the Iran war threatens Asian natural gas supplies, which are particularly vulnerable to global disruptions.
The LNG project at Kitimat, British Columbia, which began operations in June 2025, exported five cargoes in the first 11 days of March, already more than half of its total February volume, data show. The sixth shipment will leave on Tuesday.
All shipments were sent to Asia, with two going to Japan, two to South Korea and one to the Philippines. According to LSEG data, the plant is operating near full capacity of 14 million metric tons per year.
An LNG Canada spokeswoman would not comment on the facility’s current production volume but said the company is continuing to safely and responsibly conduct initial operations at the site.
“The 58th cargo is scheduled to depart in the coming days,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The industry can export only 1.2 million metric tonnes per month. In the first third of this month, it loaded more than 400,000 tonnes, the data showed.
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Global markets have rushed to adjust after Qatar, which supplies about 20% of globally traded LNG, announced it was forced to halt production and prevent tankers from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
“They are ramping up activity further to push towards full capacity, as well as trying to do a quick surge in LNG production to get more LNG on the water to Asia and take advantage of higher prices in the region,” said Martin King, analyst at RBN Energy.
LNG Canada is the first large-scale Canadian LNG facility to start production and the first major North American plant with direct access to the Pacific, reducing sailing times for Asian buyers compared to US Gulf Coast exporters.
The plant has faced operational challenges since its inception but has gradually ramped up production since January, LSEG data show.
Canadian natural gas producers raised production last summer in anticipation of the launch of LNG Canada, but faced a drop in domestic prices when the project did not draw down supplies as quickly as markets expected.
“It looks like they’ve been pretty close to capacity for the last two weeks,” said Mike Belenky, CEO of Advantage Energy, one of several companies that temporarily cut production in September when natural gas prices in western Canada temporarily turned negative.
Daily spot prices at Alberta Energy Company’s ( AECO ) storage hub were near $2 per million British thermal units on Tuesday, a $1.25 discount to the US Henry hub benchmark.
(tags to translate)Iran
