Shell has entered into a long-term sales and purchase agreement to source liquefied natural gas from Ksi Lisims LNG in Canada, where a consortium is developing a floating LNG facility on the country’s western coast.

The agreement is for the supply of 2 million tonnes per annum of LNG for a duration of 20 years, bought on a free on board basis from the Ksi Lisims FLNG facility in British Columbia. The volumes will serve mainly customers in Asia, according to a statement from the companies.

The deal was signed by Ksi Lisims LNG Limited Partnership, a co-development of the Nisga’a Nation, Rockies LNG Limited Partnership and Western LNG LLC, and Shell Eastern Trading Pte Ltd. It is the first offtake agreement for this project.

At Ksi Lisims LNG, the developers are seeking to deploy a 12 million tpa LNG operation, produced from two floating production and storage facilities.

Project developers expect the site could be operational by 2027 or 2028, although industry analysts had previously described the timeline as “hard to reach”.

In October last year, Ksi Lisims LNG applied for an environmental certificate to the British Columbia authorities.

In a statement, Davis Thames, chief executive of Western, one of the project partners, claimed Ksi Lisims LNG would be “the lowest emitting LNG liquefaction facility in the world”. It would employ floating LNG production units built by Samsung Heavy Industries and an all-electric process technology developed by Black & Veatch. The operation would be powered by hydroelectricity.

Western added the supply deal with Shell supported the project as developers move forwards towards final investment decision. A timeline for FID was not immediately released.

Shell’s Steve Hill, the supermajor’s executive vice president, said the deal with Ksi Lisims “will help Shell to continue providing diverse and flexible LNG supply”.