LNG Canada has announced it will be moving forward with an expansion of its liquefied natural gas plant in Kitimat

Early construction work on LNG Canada’s Phase 2 project in Kitimat in northwest B.C. was already underway as the project’s joint-venture partners unveiled final approval of an investment reportedly worth more than $30 billion, according to CEO Chris Cooper.

Crews are already building the second shipping berth that the Phase 2 expansion requires. Work will soon start on building water management infrastructure for the next new facilities. And the company will begin to reopen its Cedar Valley Lodge, one the housing facilities needed for some of the 4,000 skilled workers the project will need at its peak.

“So you can see a lot of early work kicking off now while the engineering procurement is underway,” Cooper said. “And then that all comes together to deliver in the early 2030s.”

LNG Canada’s initial investment, at $40 billion between the 670 kilometre Coastal GasLink pipeline and its two production-unit facilities at Kitimat, 650 kilometres north of Vancouver on B.C.’s North Coast, was already Canada’s biggest private-sector investment.

Phase 2 will add two production units, known as trains, to LNG Canada’s existing facility, doubling its capacity from 14 million to 28 million tonnes a year of production, which Prime Minister Mark Carney characterized as the second biggest LNG plant in the world.

“What a project, what a partnership,” Carney said during his remarks at the announcement Tuesday at a downtown Vancouver hotel. “What a great day for Canada.”

Politicians in attendance heralded the decision to go ahead with LNG Canada Phase 2 as a massive, and timely, investment that will capitalize on Canada’s potential as an “energy superpower,” while generating some $50 billion in revenue for governments over the life of the project.

NDP Leader David Eby, who stepped away from his election campaign, said $28 billion of that revenue will come to B.C. “to pay for the services that people depend on.”

“It means we are leading the way in the world of low-carbon energy solutions,” Eby added, referring to LNG Canada’s efforts to reduce its emissions below the world’s “best performing” LNG facilities.

“And you can see with our partners, that we are deepening our trade relationships around the world at a time when that is more important than ever for Canada.”

Federal Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said the Phase 2 investment “is a massive vote of confidence in Canada, and proof that not only does Canada have what the world wants — but we can get big projects built to deliver on that.”

LNG Canada’s Phase 2 also represents opportunities for economic reconciliation with First Nations, including the five Indigenous nations within and neighbouring the footprint of its plant in Kitimat and ocean transportation corridor.

In July, LNG Canada signed an equity agreement with those nations, which will take an ownership stake in a major piece of the expansion’s infrastructure, a $1 billion supercooled LNG storage tank, which the company will lease back for operations.

The Haisla First Nation, on whose territory the plant is located, has had a 15-year relationship with LNG Canada as the project has been developed, according to Chief Maureen Nyce.

“While Phase 2 may mean new infrastructure, market expansion and economic diversification to many of you gathered here today, it means so much more to our people,” Nyce said to the crowd. “It means we will become owners, alongside our neighbouring Indigenous communities of the infrastructure that connects lower-emission Canadian energy with communities around the world.”

Nyce added that for the four other nations involved in the MNT Investments ownership group, Phase 2 makes sure that “economic development in our traditional territory happens not just in alignment with our values, but by truly elevating Indigenous ownership on a global stage.”

In Kitimat, the Phase 2 decision was also welcomed as another major economic jolt in a town that has experienced industrial ups-and-downs over the last two decades, according to Mayor Phil Germuth.

“I think it’s a great deal for Kitimat,” Germuth said from the sidelines of a post-announcement reception. “I mean, it’s going to be another four years, at least four years of being very busy.

“And LNG Canada, I have no doubt they’re going to put the same amount of effort into making sure there’s as few negative impacts on the community in this phase as there was with the first phase.”

Germuth hopes Phase 2 gives the town more leverage to get help from the provincial and federal governments to address some of its own infrastructure needs and help retain some of the highly skilled workers who come to the region because of the project.

There were criticisms related to the pace and environmental impacts that green advocates argue aren’t being properly accounted for.

In anticipation of Tuesday’s announcement, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre issued a statement that highlighted the fact that LNG Canada’s considerations for its Phase 2 were a decade in the making.

“(In) that time, while the Liberals doddled, the Americans built nine LNG liquefaction terminals eating our lunch on the world market,” Poilievre added.

B.C. Green Leader Emily Lowan said in a statement that she was “deeply disappointed” to see governments forging ahead with the expansion of the oil-and-gas industry in the province.

Lowan noted that while LNG Canada’s Phase 2 will create thousands of construction jobs, it will only create a maximum of 150 permanent jobs in Kitimat, by the company’s estimate.

“British Columbians deserve a better future than endless wildfire-filled summers and projects that never pay off,” Lowan said.

With files from the Financial Post