LNG Canada, a business led by Shell, has increased production and exports to Asia this month, LSEG data shows, as the war in Iran threatens Asian natural gas supplies that are at risk of global disruption.
The LNG project in Kitimat, British Columbia, which began operations in June 2025, sent five shipments in the first 11 days of March, already more than half of its February total, the data show. The sixth shipment will leave on Tuesday.
All shipments were sent to Asia, two to Japan, two to South Korea and one to the Philippines. The facility appears to be operating close to its full capacity of 14 million tons per year, according to LSEG data.
A spokesperson for LNG Canada did not comment on the current production volumes of the facility but said the company continues to proceed with early operations at the site safely and responsibly.
“58 shipments are scheduled to depart in the coming days,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The business can export just over 1.2 million metric tons per month. In the first third of this month it loaded more than 400,000 tons, the data showed.
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Global markets rushed to adjust after Qatar, which supplies about 20% of the world’s LNG trade, was forced to halt production and declare force majeure when a conflict prevented tankers from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
“They are also ramping up operations to reach full capacity, as well as trying to rapidly ramp up LNG output to get more LNG in the water to Asia and take advantage of higher price opportunities in the region,” said Martin King, an analyst at RBN Energy.
LNG Canada is Canada’s first major LNG terminal to begin production and the first major North American plant with direct access to the Pacific, shortening shipping times for Asian buyers compared to US Gulf Coast exporters.
The facility has faced operational challenges since its inception but has steadily grown since January, LSEG data shows.
Canadian natural gas producers ramped up production in anticipation of the start of LNG Canada last summer, but then faced a drop in domestic prices when the project did not reduce supplies as quickly as markets expected.
“It looks like they’re pretty close, in the last two weeks, to being able to carry it,” said Mike Belenkie, CEO of Advantage Energy, which was one of several companies that temporarily cut production in September when natural gas prices in Western Canada fell for a while.
Daily prices at the Alberta Energy Company (AECO) storage facility were close to $2 per million British thermal units on Tuesday, a $1.25 discount to the US Henry Hub benchmark.
