{"id":415351,"date":"2026-01-17T13:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415351\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:05:16","slug":"shell-and-mitsubishi-exploring-sale-options-for-stakes-in-lng-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415351\/","title":{"rendered":"Shell and Mitsubishi exploring sale options for stakes in LNG Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A carrier ship at LNG Canada’s export facility in Kitimat, B.C., in August, 2025.Jesse Winter\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Oil major Shell SHEL-N<\/a> and Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi Corp. MSBHF<\/a> are exploring sale \u200boptions for their respective stakes in the $40-billion \u200dLNG Canada project, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.<\/p>\n

The moves come as owners of the massive liquefied natural gas facility weigh a potential expansion, and after another stakeholder, Petronas PNAGF<\/a>, successfully offloaded a piece of the project.<\/p>\n

Shell, the largest owner with a 40-per-cent \u200dstake in \u200bLNG Canada, has been working with investment bankers at Rothschild & Co. to sound out interested parties in recent weeks, said two of the sources. Two sources added that Shell could offload as much as three-quarters of its holding, or 30 per cent of the project. <\/p>\n

Shell has expressed willingness, however, to consider different options relating to its exposure to the project\u2019s Phase 1, which is operational, and the proposed Phase 2, \u2060given their different risks.<\/p>\n

One of the sources estimated that any buyer for Shell\u2019s stake could be committing roughly US$15-billion, inclusive of the equity stake, debt and capital requirements for Phase 2.<\/p>\n

U.S. LNG exports hit record highs as Ottawa seeks to boost Canada\u2019s modest output<\/a><\/p>\n

Mitsubishi, which holds a 15-per-cent stake, has hired RBC Capital Markets as it weighs its options, two of the sources said, cautioning deliberations were early and any sale effort would not kick off until later this year. The \u200csources did not elaborate on how \u200dmuch of its stake Mitsubishi could market.<\/p>\n

All the sources said sales involving Shell and Mitsubishi were not guaranteed, and \u200dspoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential deliberations.<\/p>\n

LNG Canada referred questions \u200cto Shell and Mitsubishi. Shell declined to comment. Mitsubishi was not immediately reachable outside Japanese office hours. \u2060RBC declined to comment. Rothschild did not immediately respond to a comment request.<\/p>\n

MidOcean, backed by investment firm EIG and Saudi Aramco, closed a deal \u200bin December to buy a fifth of the Petronas venture that held a 25-per-cent stake in LNG Canada. <\/p>\n

PetroChina holds a 15-per-cent stake, while Korea Gas Corporation owns 5 per cent of LNG Canada.<\/p>\n

LNG Canada is the first major LNG facility in North America with direct access to the Pacific Coast. The project in Kitimat, B.C., has a supply cost advantage because prices for Canadian natural gas consistently \u200btrade at a discount to the U.S. Henry Hub benchmark.<\/p>\n

Even so, existing and potential owners will consider industry fears of global oversupply of the supercooled fuel, as new LNG output comes online. Energy Transfer said in December that it was suspending development of its Lake Charles LNG export facility in Louisiana.<\/p>\n

New report backs Canada\u2019s ambition to be energy superpower as Ottawa, B.C. tout LNG<\/a><\/p>\n

LNG Canada started production in June, but has since run into operational problems. Its second processing unit, known as Train 2, was down in December, nearly a month after its startup, two sources told Reuters.<\/p>\n

When fully ramped up, Phase 1 will have \u2060the capacity to export 14 million metric tons of LNG per year. <\/p>\n

Shell told potential bidders it will keep a gas contract \u2060with the terminal for 30 years, one source said.<\/p>\n

Developers of major infrastructure projects often reduce their stakes once they become operational, allowing them to book profits and \u200crecycle cash into new ventures. Large investment firms and infrastructure funds are ready buyers of such stakes, as they like the projects\u2019 steady revenue.<\/p>\n

Shell, the world\u2019s biggest LNG trader, said in March it targeted a 4-per-cent to 5-per-cent annual increase in LNG sales over the next five years and 1-per-cent annual production growth.<\/p>\n

Shell and its partners were working toward a final investment decision for Phase 2 as soon as this year, which would double capacity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A carrier ship at LNG Canada’s export facility in Kitimat, B.C., in August,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-415351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}