HOUSTON/NEW YORK (March 24): A liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker is expected to arrive in Canada on April 1, to start cooling down LNG Canada's plant in Kitimat, British Columbia, considered the final step before the plant begins production of the superchilled gas.

"The delivery is expected in early April and is critical to our safe start-up and commissioning process now underway, and to achieving our first cargo by the middle of 2025," LNG Canada told Reuters on Monday.

The company is Canada's first LNG export facility and when complete, is expected to export 14 million metric tons per annum (MTPA) of the superchilled gas.

Once LNG Canada enters service, Canadian gas exports to the US will likely decline, traders said, as Canadian energy firms will have another outlet for their fuel, and will sell more to other countries. For now, the US is the only outlet for Canadian gas.

Canada exported about 8.6 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) of gas via pipelines to the US in 2024, up from 8.0 bcfd in 2023 and an average of 7.5 bcfd over the prior five years (2018-2022), according to data from the US Energy Information Administration. That compares with a record 10.4 bcfd in 2002.

The cooldown period will take three to four weeks to complete, LNG Canada said. The tanker arriving next week is called Maran Gas Roxana.

LNG Canada is trying to limit the amount of flaring of natural gas associated with the startup of the plant, and to ensure that the plant is working according to specifications as the facility's machinery expands and contracts with the introduction of natural gas, a person familiar with the project told Reuters.

LNG Canada is a joint venture of Shell, Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Kogas.

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