Centrica has signed a heads of agreement to buy 1 million tonnes of LNG a year for 20 years from Ksi Lisims LNG in Canada, a long-term supply commitment that matters to energy suppliers and business gas buyers because it secures lower-carbon volumes while global gas markets remain volatile.

Centrica is a UK and Ireland-focused integrated energy company whose subsidiary British Gas is the UK's largest supplier of domestic natural gas.

Ksi Lisims LNG is a proposed 12 million tonne a year floating LNG export facility on British Columbia's northwest coast, powered by renewable hydroelectricity to cut carbon intensity by up to 90% against conventional plants. Supply agreements now cover 9 million tonnes a year, and first LNG is expected in the early 2030s subject to a final investment decision.

The project is co-developed by the Nisga'a Nation, a self-governing treaty nation that owns the site, Rockies LNG, a partnership of Western Canadian gas producers, and Western LNG, a Houston-based LNG developer.

Chris O'Shea, group chief executive at Centrica, said: "Energy security has never mattered more. Gas will continue to play an important role through the energy transition, and this agreement adds reliable, long-term LNG supply to our global portfolio, ensuring our customers around the world get the energy they need, when and where they need it." Davis Thames, president, founder and chief executive of Western LNG, said the company expects to complete a definitive agreement in the coming months and that continued interest from major international energy companies demonstrates the project's commercial momentum.

The agreement lands as Europe's LNG exposure deepens: LNG made up 62% of European gas imports in the first quarter of 2026, up from 58% in 2025, after the Middle East war disrupted around a fifth of global supply.

European gas prices have more than doubled this year, leaving buyers without term supply exposed to spot cargoes that Asian buyers are also bidding for.

The trade-off is duration: analysts expect European gas demand to keep falling, which sets a 20-year commitment starting in the early 2030s against uncertain demand.

For the sector, the agreement shows suppliers weighing long-term price security against uncertain demand, a trade-off business buyers face in their own contracts.

Source: Offshore Energy / IEEFA / Bloomberg