British Columbia approves LNG pipeline to proposed Ksi Lisims plant

The planned Ksi Lisims LNG facility has moved another step forward with British Columbia authorising the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, the Canadian Press reported on June 5.

The 900-km pipeline stretches from Hudson’s Hope in the Montney shale formation in northeastern British Columbia and finishes in Lelu Island near Prince Rupert on the western coast of Canada.

However, the province’s Environmental Assessment Office is reviewing requests to alter the route to shift the end point to the Ksi Lisims facility located at Gingolx, and also reroute the pipeline’s eastern portion.

The decision has drawn staunch criticism from British Columbia’s Green Party and environmental activists, as well as nearby indigenous groups Lax Kw’alaams Band and the Ts’msyen hereditary chiefs.

The pipeline was first given the go-ahead in 2014, with a requirement that the project is started within a 10-year period.

The Environmental Assessment Office began a review in November 2024 and determined the project had been “substantially started” within the deadline, thereby allowing the project to move ahead without the requirement for a new assessment.

The pipeline was bought in 2024 by the Nisga’a Nation and US firm Western LNG in order to supply the proposed Ksi Lisim plant.

The LNG facility secured another offtake agreement in May with French supermajor TotalEnergies. However, it has still yet to take a final investment decision (FID) or obtain the necessary environmental assessment.

The Ksi Lisims project, which will boast a production capacity of 2mn tonnes per year (tpy), is aiming to take FID before the end of 2025, with a vision to be commercially operational by late 2028 or early 2029.

The pipeline is being built by US construction firm Bechtel and partly financed by American private equity firm Blackstone.