Canada Fast-Tracks 1 Million-Bpd Pacific Link Oil Pipeline to Asia

By Julianne Geiger - Oct 01, 2026

Canada is fast-tracking a proposed 1 million-barrel-per-day oil pipeline to the Pacific coast, giving Alberta another route to Asian buyers and another way around its overwhelming dependence on the U.S. market.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Ottawa will list the project as one of national interest, sending it through a single federal review process that Ottawa aims to complete by September 1, 2027, potentially allowing construction to begin shortly afterward.

The pipeline would run from Alberta to southern British Columbia, largely following the existing Trans Mountain corridor. Trans Mountain Corp. and Pembina Pipeline would lead the project, with the federal and Alberta governments expected to hold the majority stake. Indigenous communities would be offered at least 10% ownership.

Alberta estimates construction could cost between C$35.2 billion and C$43.7 billion. Ottawa says the project could generate more than C$20 billion in annual GDP, create as many as 140,000 jobs at peak construction and produce C$100 billion in government revenue by 2060.

Canada still sends more than 90% of its crude exports to the United States. Its main escape route is the 890,000-bpd Trans Mountain pipeline, which reaches the Pacific and is already running at capacity.

That Pacific access has become more valuable since the Iran war disrupted Middle Eastern flows and sent Asian refiners hunting for barrels that do not have to clear the Strait of Hormuz. China has already become the largest buyer of Trans Mountain’s seaborne exports, taking roughly 60% of shipments, according to the Canadian government.

Ottawa and Alberta are also pursuing another 300,000 to 400,000 bpd of capacity on the existing Trans Mountain system.

The new pipeline still needs a final route, regulatory approvals, and consultation with Indigenous communities and British Columbia.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

LNG Canada to Double Export Capacity After Shell Approves Phase 2

By Michael Kern - Sep 29, 2026,

Canada’s first liquefied natural gas export facility, LNG Canada, will double its capacity in the early 2030s after the Shell-led project announced on Tuesday the final investment decision to proceed with Phase 2 of the plant in Kitimat, British Columbia.

LNG Canada in Kitimat, B.C., launched exports in the summer of 2025, after years of development by its shareholders Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi, and Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas).

Phase 2 of the first Canadian LNG export facility is planned to add two LNG processing units, or trains, increasing LNG Canada’s total production capacity from 14 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 28 mtpa.

Shell, the world’s biggest LNG trader, holds a 40% interest in LNG Canada and will receive nearly 6 mtpa of additional LNG from the expansion.

The partners in the project have agreed that LNG Canada will continue to operate under an equity lifting structure, whereby each joint venture participant is responsible for the offtake of its proportionate share of LNG production and for bringing its share of gas supply.

Commercial operations of LNG Canada Phase 2 are expected to begin in the early 2030s.

The project in Kitimat is positioned to supply cost-competitive gas to Asian markets, where demand for LNG is expected to increase significantly, Shell said.

According to Shell’s LNG Outlook 2026, global LNG demand is expected to rise by around 65% by 2050, driven by growing energy demand and the need for secure, flexible, and reliable energy supplies.

“LNG Canada is a core part of our Integrated Gas portfolio, helping to supply LNG to customers in Asia at a time when diversity of energy supplies and energy security are increasingly important,” Shell’s Integrated Gas President, Cederic Cremers, said on Tuesday.

LNG Canada Phase 2 is actually the first on the list of five major projects of national importance, which Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney proposed in the autumn of 2025 to diversify Canada’s energy exports from the United States and make it an energy superpower.

By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com