On 28 September 2026 the joint venture partners of LNG Canada took a final investment decision on Phase 2, the expansion of the liquefaction complex at Kitimat in British Columbia. Shell Canada Energy confirmed the decision in a newsroom release the following morning. The scope is two additional liquefaction trains, taking the site from 14 to 28 million tonnes per annum, together with a new LNG storage tank, a condensate tank, a loading berth and expanded utility and process systems.
For anyone buying pipe, the significance is immediate: this is a sanctioned project, not a study. The material question that follows is not whether cryogenic pipe will be bought, but at what temperature the grade has to be qualified — and on that point the specification text is sharper than most buying guides.
What was actually announced
| Item | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Decision | Final investment decision on LNG Canada Phase 2, announced 28 September 2026 | LNG Canada / CNW release, 28 Sep 2026 |
| Scope | Two additional liquefaction trains, an additional LNG storage tank, condensate tank, loading berth and expanded utility and process systems | Shell newsroom release, 29 Sep 2026 |
| Capacity | 14 to 28 mtpa total site capacity; Shell expects nearly 6 mtpa of additional LNG | Shell newsroom release, 29 Sep 2026 |
| Ownership | Shell 40 %, PETRONAS 25 %, PetroChina 15 %, Mitsubishi Corporation 15 %, KOGAS 5 % | Shell newsroom release, 29 Sep 2026 |
| Feed | Coastal GasLink, 670 km, to expand through five new compressor stations | Shell newsroom release, 29 Sep 2026 |
| Timing | Commercial operations in the early 2030s; Phase 1 produced its first cargo in June 2025 | Shell newsroom release; Storage Terminals Magazine, 12 Oct 2026 |
| Delivery | JGC Fluor BC LNG II joint venture notified to proceed; Fluor puts its own share of the contract at about US$7.5 billion | Storage Terminals Magazine, 12 Oct 2026 |
| Capital | C$33 billion private-sector capital, attributed to the Canadian Major Projects Office | Oil and Gas Middle East, trade press reporting |
Two details in that table matter more than the rest. The first is the brownfield character of the site: Phase 2 is built alongside a plant that has been running since June 2025, so tie-ins happen next to live equipment rather than on a greenfield plot. The second is that the upstream side is moving too, with five new compressor stations added to an existing 670 km pipeline. Both point to the same procurement reality — long-lead pipe is ordered against a construction sequence that has to work around an operating plant.
The temperature that decides the grade
LNG is held and shipped at approximately minus 162 degrees Celsius, which is minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit at ambient pressure, according to the US Department of Energy and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. ASME SA-333/SA-333M is the specification for seamless and welded steel pipe for low-temperature service and other applications with required notch toughness. Its Table 4 fixes the minimum impact test temperature for each grade, and the spread across that table is much wider than the grade names suggest.
| Specification and grade | Minimum impact test temperature | Relevance at LNG temperature |
|---|---|---|
| SA-333 Grade 8 | minus 320 °F [minus 195 °C] | Below the LNG service temperature |
| SA-333 Grade 11 | minus 320 °F [minus 195 °C] | Same qualification band as Grade 8 |
| SA-333 Grade 6 | minus 50 °F [minus 45 °C] | Not an LNG-temperature impact qualification |
| SA-333 Grades 3 and 4 | minus 150 °F [minus 100 °C] | Mid-temperature band |
| SA-333 Grades 7 and 9 | minus 100 °F [minus 75 °C] | Mid-temperature band |
| SA-333 Grade 10 | minus 75 °F [minus 60 °C] | Elevated-temperature band |
| SA-333 Grade 1 | minus 50 °F [minus 45 °C] | Low-temperature band |
| SA-312 TP304, TP304L, TP347 | No impact qualification required down to minus 425 °F [minus 250 °C] | Austenitic alternative, accepted by ASME Section VIII Div 1 and B31.3 |
Only two of the nine SA-333 grades sit at minus 320 °F. If your duty temperature is the minus 162 °C of LNG cargo, those are the two grades whose impact qualification covers the service without a supplementary requirement, and any other grade needs the temperature bought out separately in the purchase order.
The austenitic route runs in the opposite direction, and it is the clause most buyers overlook. The scope note in SA-312/SA-312M states that where an impact test criterion of 15 ft·lbf [20 J] energy absorption or 15 mils [0.38 mm] lateral expansion would apply, TP304, TP304L and TP347 are accepted by ASME Section VIII Division 1 and by B31.3 for service at temperatures as low as minus 425 °F [minus 250 °C] without qualification by impact tests, and that other AISI stainless grades are usually accepted down to minus 325 °F [minus 200 °C]. The same note closes with the condition that makes it unusable as a blanket rule: materials with chromium or nickel content outside the AISI ranges, and material with carbon content exceeding 0.10 %, are required to be impact tested under the rules of ASME Section VIII Division 1 when service temperatures are lower than minus 50 °F [minus 45 °C].
That single sentence is the difference between a workable cryogenic specification and an expensive one. A 316L pipe whose chemistry sits inside the AISI ranges and whose carbon content does not exceed 0.10 % can be ordered without impact qualification. The same grade with a higher carbon level, or with nickel and chromium outside the standard ranges, cannot.
Where the supply chain actually binds
SA-333 carries two practical warnings that a buyer should read before the purchase order is written. The scope clause in Section 1.1 notes that some product sizes may not be available under the specification because heavier wall thicknesses have an adverse effect on impact properties. And Section 14.1 requires all material to be tested for impact resistance at the minimum temperature for the respective grade, with Section 14.1.2 requiring the specified test temperature to be lowered when subsize Charpy specimens are used and the notch width is less than 80 % of the actual wall thickness.
In other words, the wall thickness you want and the wall thickness you can impact qualify are not always the same thickness. For 10 by 10 mm specimens, SA-333 Table 3 requires a minimum average notched bar impact value of 13 ft·lbf [18 J] for each set of three specimens, with one specimen in a set allowed to fall to 10 ft·lbf [14 J]. At 10 by 5 mm specimens the average requirement drops to 7 ft·lbf [9 J]. The smaller the specimen, the lower the temperature has to go, and the lower the temperature has to go, the more difficult the heat is to run. For welded pipe in particular, Section 8.1 requires impact specimens to include the welded joint in welded pipe with wall thicknesses of 0.120 in. [3 mm] and larger, and Section 4.2.7 requires those tests to cover weld metal and heat affected zone as well as base metal, meeting the same requirements.
This is a market note rather than a supply claim. No package for this project is being offered here, and nothing in this article should be read as a claim of supply. What it does establish is which questions to ask a supplier before the enquiry is written, because the answer to the impact-temperature question determines whether the grade in your specification is orderable at the wall thickness you want.
Send us the four lines that define the enquiry
If you are pricing cryogenic pipe for a liquefaction, storage or regasification package, send us four things: the grade and UNS designation, the nominal size and schedule or minimum wall, the minimum design metal temperature, and the delivery condition you need. With those we can tell you which of the qualification routes above your order has to follow, and what is available against it. For austenitic and nickel alloy pipe, tube and bar, start with our stainless seamless pipe and tube range, or ask directly through the the duplex 2205 product listing if the service is chloride-bearing. Then send the enquiry to request a material quote.
