Ksi Lisims LNG has reached the lower end of the sales level its developer previously said it wanted before making a final investment decision, after Australia’s Santos agreed to take another 1 million tonnes of LNG per year from the proposed British Columbia export project.
The latest agreement brings announced Ksi Lisims offtake to 8 million tonnes per annum, or about 67% of its planned 12 mtpa capacity. Only 6 mtpa is currently covered by finalized sales and purchase agreements, while the remaining 2 mtpa is covered by preliminary agreements that still need to be converted into SPAs.
Under the agreement announced Monday by Western LNG, Santos would purchase 1 mtpa from Ksi Lisims on a free-on-board basis for as long as 20 years. Santos expects supply to begin around 2031, according to Reuters.
Ksi Lisims’ binding offtake now consists of three 2 mtpa deals. Shell signed the project’s first 20-year SPA, announced in January 2024. TotalEnergies followed with another 2 mtpa, 20-year agreement in May 2025 and separately acquired a 5% stake in Western LNG. Uniper became the third binding buyer in July, converting earlier negotiations into an SPA covering 2 mtpa for up to 20 years.
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That gives the project 6 mtpa of contracted volumes, equal to half of its proposed capacity.
Germany’s state-owned SEFE adds another 1 mtpa under a Heads of Agreement signed in May, with deliveries expected in the early 2030s. Santos now adds a second 1 mtpa HOA. Together, the five announced buyers represent 8 mtpa, leaving 4 mtpa without a publicly announced buyer if Ksi Lisims intends to commercialize all 12 mtpa.
Western LNG said Monday it expects to complete commercialization of the project’s entire 12 mtpa capacity this year.
The significance of the latest 1 mtpa becomes clearer against Western LNG’s earlier commercialization target.
After the SEFE agreement in May brought allocated volumes to 5 mtpa, Western LNG CEO Davis Thames told Reuters that Ksi Lisims was looking to secure another 3 million to 4 million tonnes of annual sales before reaching FID. That implied a pre-FID target of roughly 8 mtpa to 9 mtpa.
Uniper subsequently added 2 mtpa under its July SPA, taking announced commitments to 7 mtpa. Santos now takes that figure to 8 mtpa, reaching the lower end of the range Thames identified in May.
The project has not yet announced an investment decision, however, and the Santos and SEFE volumes remain preliminary rather than binding SPAs.
Ksi Lisims is being developed by the Nisga’a Nation, Rockies LNG, and Western LNG as a 12 mtpa floating export facility on Nisga’a Nation-owned land in northwest British Columbia. The project received federal and provincial environmental approvals in September 2025 and was subsequently referred to Canada’s Major Projects Office.
British Columbia currently says an FID is expected in 2026, followed by construction beginning in 2027. The province estimates Ksi Lisims and the associated Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project together could attract about $30 billion in investment.
For Santos, the Canadian agreement was announced alongside a separate 10-year LNG supply arrangement with South Korea’s POSCO Steel beginning in 2030 or 2031. Santos said that supply will come from its broader global LNG portfolio rather than identifying Ksi Lisims as the source.
