LNG Canada will have a new CEO in April, when the project will be in advanced startup as it readies for its first exports of natural gas from B.C. to Asia.
Jason Klein, appointed as president and CEO of LNG Canada in 2022, will be taking on a new role with Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) and will return to Houston, Texas, where he is originally from.
Chris Cooper, LNG Canada’s senior vice president for Phase 1 Pipeline and Expansion, will take over from Klein as CEO as of April 1, 2025.
“It’s been an honour to lead LNG Canada for the past three years as we reached major construction milestones, participated in reconciliation and continued to steadily and safely advance towards delivering first cargoes of made-in-BC LNG,” Klein said in a press release. “It’s an experience I’ll always cherish.”
Shell is the lead partner in LNG Canada, with Shell Canada Energy owning 40 per cent. Petronas owns 25 per cent, PetroChina and Mitsubishi Corp. 15 per cent each, and Korea Gas five per cent. Their combined investment in LNG Canada, including upstream natural gas assets and the Coastal GasLink pipeline, has been estimated at $40 billion.
Cooper was seconded to LNG Canada by Shell plc in 2021 to head up the completion of the Coastal GasLink pipeline by TC Energy (TSX:TRP).
“In tandem with this role, Chris led LNG Canada’s responsibilities to advance Cedar LNG’s final investment decision (FID) in 2024, while also directing LNG Canada’s Phase 2 development.,” LNG Canada says in a press release.
Prior to his secondment to LNG Canada, Cooper was Oman Gas and Development director for Shell’s Nigeria LNG Train 7.
The LNG Canada project was approved for up to four trains, with a total potential production capacity of 26 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas.
The current LNG Canada plant being completed in Kitimat is a two-train facility, with a production capacity of 13 mtpa, at a cost estimated at $18 billion. The LNG partners have not yet made a final investment decision on the Phase 2 expansion.
“I’m pleased to continue the journey with all those involved in and around the LNG Canada investment,” Cooper said. “Together, we are setting the benchmark for economically, environmentally and socially responsible large scale LNG production in Canada and creating a positive and lasting legacy with First Nations, the local community and for British Columbia and Canada.”
LNG Canada is more than 95 per cent complete and now in early commissioning. The company said it is on track to ship its first cargoes by the middle of 2025.
