Shell CEO says LNG Canada ramp-up in line with expectations

Sawan answered a question during the second-quarter earnings call on Thursday following a media report that Shell-led LNG Canada is experiencing technical problems.

“I’ve read the article, I still scratch my head as to some elements of it,” Sawan said.

Sawan noted that Shell and its partners brought the “first part of train one on stream.”

“It’s been running steady and stable,” he said.

“We’re essentially churning out a cargo at the moment every eight days. And as we progress, the ramp-up of train one that moves to one every four days and so on and forth as you get into train two,” Sawan said.

“Suffice it to say, we are very pleased with the momentum that we’re seeing in LNG Canada and the work that the team is doing there. And very much looking forward to, as we get sort of over the next month or two to start to see train two as well ramping up,” he said.

LNG Canada is Canada’s first large LNG export facility.

One of the largest private investments in Canadian history, the plant will initially produce 14 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) LNG for export.

With a proposed Phase 2 expansion, Shell and its partners plan to double the terminal’s capacity to 28 mtpa.

Besides operator Shell, other partners in the project include Malaysia’s Petronas, PetroChina, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, and South Korea’s Kogas.

Shell’s second-quarter presentation shows that shipping time from the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat to Asia is less than half that of US Gulf Coast projects.

An LNG carrier takes around ten days to deliver a cargo from LNG Canada to Asia, according to Shell.