Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
German utility Uniper has locked down a formal long-term agreement to purchase liquefied natural gas from the $30-billion Ksi Lisims project planned for the northern British Columbia coast.
The Duesseldorf-based company will purchase two million tonnes per year of LNG for up to 20 years, with first deliveries expected in 2032, Uniper and Ksi Lisims said in a joint news release. They signed a letter of interest last month outlining key commercial terms for the binding supply and purchase agreement announced Wednesday.
The deal marks the first major long-term LNG supply agreement between Canada and Germany, they said.
The B.C. government has struck a deal with another German company to sell LNG from a planned project off B.C.’s North Coast. Uniper will buy 2 million tonnes of LNG annually from the Ksi Lisims plant starting in 2032, for up to 20 years.
“As a trusted partner, Canada helps diversify Europe’s energy supply and strengthens resilience against future disruptions,” said Uniper chief executive Michael Lewis.
Uniper has 18.5 gigawatts of power generating capacity and is a major LNG importer in northwestern Europe. The German government took it over amid the 2022 energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but is now in the process of privatizing it.
Houston-based Western LNG is the lead developer and future operator of Ksi Lisims alongside Rockies LNG, a consortium of Canadian natural gas producers, and the Nisga’a Nation, on whose lands the project would be located.
“Canada is naturally endowed with a world-class natural gas resource, which, through responsible development, is one of the lowest emissions production complexes in the world,” said David Thames, head of Western LNG.
Two northern BC First Nations have dropped the legal challenge against Ottawa’s approval of a floating LNG facility planned off Prince Rupert. Katie DeRosa has the details on what is still a controversial project.
The floating plant would export up to 12 million tonnes of LNG per year from the site on Pearse Island, by the Alaska border.
B.C. Premier David Eby was asked about balancing environmental concerns with growth in the LNG industry during an unrelated news conference on Wednesday.
He said the Nisga’a Nation and its partners had “work to do with other nations and with local communities just like any other project proponent to bring people along.”
Eby touted B.C.’s approach to major resource projects, saying the province was “willing to put in the time and the energy to work with communities, to work with First Nations, to deliver these projects in partnership.”
A federal government news release Wednesday said the $30-billion Ksi Lisims project would be Canada’s second-largest LNG facility with the potential to represent 13 per cent of the country’s total natural gas exports by the early-to-mid 2030s.
A report written by the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office in August 2025 had pegged initial capital cost for Ksi Lisims at $10 billion to $12 billion.
The $30 billion figure is an updated capital cost estimate and does not include the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline that would feed the plant, the office of Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said Wednesday.
Richard Brooks, climate finance director with Stand.earth called the deal “a major step backwards for climate action” for both Germany and Canada.
“Moving forward with a massive new methane gas project as devastating wildfires rage across Canada and Europe is irresponsible and an abdication of leadership,” he said.
“Morally, it’s a slap in the face to all of us who are impacted by deadly heat waves and smoke.”
