September 16, 2025 [Oil Price]- Just two months after Canada became an LNG exporter with the launch of LNG Canada, the federal government is betting big on the export facility in British Columbia by including its expansion in the five major projects to diversify Canada’s energy exports and make it a conventional and clean energy powerhouse.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last week the first list of five major projects of national importance, with LNG Canada Phase 2 the first on the list.

These projects will be referred to the newly created Major Projects Office, which will help accelerate the development of the strategic projects, including by creating a single set of conditions, the Prime Minister’s office said.

The single set of conditions would reduce the approval timeline for projects of national interest to a maximum of two years.

LNG Canada in Kitimat, B.C., launched exports two and a half months ago, after years of development by its shareholders Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi, and Korea Gas Corporation (Kogas).

LNG Canada is the country’s first large-scale LNG export operation, which exports gas to global markets from the Canadian Pacific coast, helping to diversify Canada’s current over-reliance on the U.S. export market.

Diversifying exports has become a key priority for Canada’s federal government since U.S. President Donald Trump took office and launched a series of trade restrictions and threats to the U.S.-Canadian trade.

As early as June, Carney told oil and gas executives in Canada’s oil-producing province of Alberta that the federal government would work to fast-track major projects to make Canada an energy superpower.

At the end of August, the federal government created the Major Projects Office (MPO), which will work to fast-track projects by streamlining regulatory assessment and approvals and helping to structure financing, in close partnership with provinces, territories, Indigenous Peoples, and private investors.

The first five projects for consideration by the MPO include LNG Canada Phase 2, a project for a small modular reactor (SMR), a terminal container project, and two mining projects to boost Canada’s copper production.

The LNG Canada Phase 2 project will double LNG Canada’s production of liquefied natural gas to 28 million metric tons per year, making it the second-largest facility of its kind in the world.

Apart from attracting significant private sector capital to Canada and contributing to the economic growth, the project will further diversify Canada’s trading partners and increase available natural gas for Asian and European partners, the federal government said.

“Leveraging Canada’s sustainable advantage, emissions are projected to be 35% lower than the world’s best-performing LNG facilities and 60% lower than the global average,” the PM’s office said.

“At this pivotal moment, we promised Canadians we would deliver results – building Canada into an energy superpower and the strongest economy in the G7,” said Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith welcomed the federal government’s announcement of the first five priority projects, although an oil pipeline isn’t on the Major Projects Office’s list.

In June, Smith said that Alberta is working to engage private backers for a new pipeline to ship about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Canada’s oil-producing province to British Columbia.

Commenting on the major projects list, Smith said last week, “When I looked at the first five projects, I thought: ‘Finally — they get it,’ because it’s all the projects that have been difficult to build.”

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) also welcomed the inclusion of LNG Canada in the list of major projects.

“Building LNG export capacity and other oil and natural gas related projects are among the fastest ways to diversify Canada’s global customer base and increase our economic and energy sovereignty in the face of international economic uncertainty,” said Lisa Baiton, CAPP President and CEO.

“While we would have liked to have seen pipeline projects identified on this first list of projects in the national interest, we also understand that more work needs to be done to attract proponents, and that process will take some time. CAPP will continue to advocate for greater market access and opportunities for egress for Canada’s oil and natural gas resources.”