Ksi Lisims LNG Adds Third Offtake Deal With Year-End FID in View
Western LNG signed a third international offtake contract for Ksi Lisims on September 15 as the project targets a final investment decision by year-end.
Western LNG signed a third international offtake agreement for its Ksi Lisims LNG facility on Tuesday (2026-09-15), according to a newswire release published the same day, pushing the proposed British Columbia floating terminal closer to a final investment decision the company has set for end-2026.7
Davis Thames, Western LNG's founder, president and chief executive, said the deal puts the company in "the final stages of commercialization and toward a final investment decision." For a project still without construction sanction, that phrasing carries weight: developers typically signal FID readiness only when financing and offtake conditions are close to satisfied.7
The third deal extends a run of European supply agreements that began in late May. Canada's first binding long-term LNG export contract with Europe was announced on May 28, 2026 (2026-05-28), when Berlin-based SEFE (Securing Energy for Europe, a German state-owned firm) agreed to purchase 1 million tonnes per annum from Ksi Lisims, with shipments beginning in the early 2030s.2,1 German energy company Uniper followed on July 29, 2026 (2026-07-29), signing a 20-year offtake agreement for supply from the same project.5,4
Earlier deals had already covered substantial volume. Paris-based TotalEnergies and a unit of London-based Shell had each committed to 2 million tonnes per annum, the combined 4 million tpa representing roughly one-third of the project's planned 12 million tonne per annum capacity, Globe and Mail reporting from May 2026 showed.1
Ksi Lisims is a proposed floating liquefaction, storage and offloading facility off British Columbia's northern coast. Its LNG trains would run on electricity sourced from renewable hydropower, which the developers say would cut lifecycle emissions 94% below the global average for LNG, a specification that has drawn European buyers trying to reconcile long-term fossil fuel commitments with domestic climate obligations.2
Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga'a Lisims Government, said at the May 2026 SEFE signing that buyers "should not have to choose between energy security and climate ambition."2
The project received regulatory approval in September 2025 under Canada and British Columbia's joint "One Project, One Review" permitting process and was subsequently referred for further steps.7 On the engineering front, Dutch offshore contractor Allseas secured a contract from Western LNG to install the subsea section of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, the feed-gas line that would connect the facility to British Columbia's interior gas network, OEDigital reported on July 29, 2026 (2026-07-29).3
Ottawa has attached each offtake announcement to its broader push to diversify exports away from the United States, with federal ministers joining signings alongside British Columbia officials and Nisga'a Nation representatives.1,4 Pacific Energy president Ratnesh Bedi noted in August 2026 that Middle East buyers were fielding inquiries for Canadian LNG as a geopolitical hedge, though he was speaking about the separate Woodfibre LNG project near Squamish, not Ksi Lisims.6
ICE Endex TTF front-month gas traded at €80.08 per megawatt-hour on September 16; JKM Asian LNG spot prices stood at $27.76 per MMBtu the same day. Long-term supply contracts of this kind are typically indexed to hub prices at delivery rather than fixed at signing, so current European gas levels do not directly set the financial terms of the Ksi Lisims agreements. [live prices]
With the project now carrying three recently signed international offtake agreements alongside the earlier TotalEnergies and Shell commitments, Thames reiterated on Tuesday (2026-09-15) that the FID remains targeted for end-2026. How much uncommitted capacity remains against the 12 mtpa design, and whether construction financing closes on that schedule, will shape whether Ksi Lisims delivers its first cargo by the early 2030s or joins the queue of delayed North American LNG projects.7,2,1