LONDON, May 2, 2026, 17:03 BST
- April saw LNG Canada ship out more than 1 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas—a first for the exporter.
- People familiar with the process say Apollo, Blackstone, and KKR are all in the running for a Shell stake in the project.
- Just days after Shell struck a deal to acquire ARC Resources—doubling down on its Canada gas play ahead of May 7 results—the auction is underway.
Shell Plc’s LNG Canada project hit a new milestone in April, moving past 1 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas exports as heavyweight investors eye a piece of the Shell-led operation. Liquefied natural gas, or LNG, is created by chilling gas until it becomes a liquid, allowing shipment by tanker.
Shell faces a delicate balancing act: it’s looking to unload parts of its portfolio for cash, even as it moves to secure more North American gas. Apollo Global Management, Blackstone, and KKR are the last firms standing in the bid for a major stake in LNG Canada, a deal Reuters said could fetch Shell upwards of $10 billion—maybe as much as $15 billion, according to three sources familiar with the talks.
The numbers are in: LNG Canada isn’t just a proposal anymore. In April, the facility shipped its entire production east, LSEG data shows, with more than half of those volumes ending up in South Korea and another cargo heading straight for China, Reuters reports. The site marks Canada’s debut in large-scale LNG exports—and notably, it’s the first major plant on the West Coast of North America, giving it a distance edge to Asia over the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Shell owns a 40% stake in LNG Canada, partnering with Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi, and KOGAS. According to Reuters, Shell could opt to offload its interests in both the first operating phase and the planned second phase to a single buyer instead of dividing them up.
Shell CEO Wael Sawan told Reuters this week the company feels “very comfortable” holding its LNG Canada stake and isn’t “necessarily looking at reducing our equity interest.” Sawan added Shell is focused on raising cash from business segments with lower returns or where it’s not the natural owner. Reuters
Shell’s move comes after its April 27 deal to acquire ARC Resources, a Calgary-based operator active in the Montney shale basin across British Columbia and Alberta. The company said the ARC acquisition would tack on 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day—combining oil and gas volumes into a single metric—and push Shell’s production growth target up to 4% through 2030.
Sawan described ARC as “a high-quality, low-cost” operator, arguing the acquisition “establishes Canada as a heartland for Shell.” Under the agreed terms, ARC shareholders will get C$8.20 in cash plus 0.40247 Shell shares for every ARC share they own. That puts the deal’s value at C$32.80 per ARC share—a 27% premium over ARC’s closing price on April 24, according to ARC. ARC Resources
Here’s the rationale: ARC’s gas reserves are close to Shell’s current Canadian assets supplying LNG Canada, making for a straightforward fit. For Shell, this deal adds heft to a reserve base that’s faced questions lately. The company will take on approximately $2.8 billion of ARC’s net debt and leases, bringing total enterprise value to around $16.4 billion.
The hunt is broadening. According to Reuters, TotalEnergies, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, and BP are all reassessing Canadian energy assets, drawn by the relative stability of the region amid the Middle East turmoil. Mike Verney at McDaniel & Associates called Shell’s decision “validating” for Canadian resources. Reuters
Shell faces immediate pressure from investors. The company announced plans to wrap up its $3.5 billion buyback program ahead of first-quarter results; on May 1, a filing revealed it had purchased 693,729 shares for cancellation on London markets that day. Buybacks pull shares out of circulation, often boosting per-share returns.
Shell’s first-quarter results are due May 7. The company has warned about softer integrated gas output and signaled robust oil trading, with working-capital outflows between $10 billion and $15 billion linked to price volatility. After Shell’s trading update, analysts at RBC and UBS both bumped up their profit forecasts for the quarter.
There’s similar friction among peers. BP and TotalEnergies reaped gains from their sizable trading desks during the supply turmoil. Shell, moving about 14 million barrels daily, flagged a robust trading result for the first quarter too. But the trading business is fickle and hard to track—what boosts profits in a crunch can quickly lose steam once prices and flows settle down.
The sale could fall through, or potential buyers might assign a lower value to the phase-two expansion than Shell hopes. Shell may hang on to part—or all—of its holding, according to Reuters, and LNG Canada hasn’t hit full capacity yet despite a rapid ramp-up. Right now, the project is an active gauge of just how much private capital will shell out for Pacific gas infrastructure with a long runway.
