Kitimat

A marvel of nature and industry

Kitimat beckons from the head of Douglas Channel next to Kitimat River. Its imploring wilderness is the perfect place for adventure seekers and nature lovers to find their happy places, and indoor and outdoor recreation facilities in in the community provide plenty of opportunity for an active, outdoor, coastal lifestyle.

Kitimat’s location in the heart of northern B.C.’s stunning natural wilderness is only part of the reason its 9,000 residents love where they live. The community’s economy, previously driven by Rio Tinto—its largest employer and the province’s only aluminum smelter—changed forever in 2018, thanks to LNG Canada’s commitment to build the country’s first LNG export facility. The $40 billion project is the single largest private investment in Canada’s history and promises to both grow Kitimat’s population and provide an abundance of high-paying jobs in the region.

LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink are currently working on an LNG liquefaction, storage and loading terminal in Kitimat to export LNG produced from the Montney Basin near Dawson Creek. The gas will be transported by the 670 km Coastal GasLink pipeline. This project will employ 4,5007,500 over the 20182025 construction period and create 300450 permanent jobs during operations (2025-2065).

But LNG Canada is only the beginning. Several other ongoing and proposed industrial developments in the Kitimat region make the community a natural opportunity for business and investment.

Rio Tinto’s $500 million BC Works Kemano T2 project (20172020) is a smelter project powered by Kemano Powerhouse, which receives water form the Nechako Reservoir via a single tunnel that is more than 60 years old. Completion of a second tunnel will ensure the long-term reliability of the power supply from the Kemano Powerhouse and keep 300 people working over the construction period.

Chevron Canada and Woodside are proposing to construct the Kitimat LNG facility to liquefy natural gas from B.C.’s Laird and Horn River basins. The natural gas to supply the liquefaction facility will be transported to the plant from Summit Lake, via the 480-km Pacific Trail Pipeline.

Additional proposed developments include Cedar LNG—a Hasla First Nations small floating liquefaction and export facility along the west side of the Douglas Channel, and a 1.25 million tonne per year propane export project proposed by Pacific Traverse Energy. This project would ship propane to Asian customers.

Oil projects are also important components of Kitimat’s developing economy. Kitimat Clean Oil Refinery is a proposed $22 billion green state of the art heavy oil refinery near Kitimat that would offer 2,500 permanent jobs. It would be one of the ten largest refineries in the world and the lowest cost producer of any refinery on the Pacific or Indian Oceans. As well, the Pacific Future Energy Oil Refinery, valued at $1214 billion, is set to become the world’s greenest bitumen refinery and employ 3,500 over the construction period and 1,000 permanently.

Anyone looking for a solid connection to nature and some of B.C.’s most inviting economic prospects must explore the marvel of nature and industry in Kitimat.

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