Company
LNG Canada is a major liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminal project currently under construction in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada. It is a joint venture and Canada’s first large-scale LNG export facility, aiming to deliver cleaner energy to the world while creating an attractive workplace that leverages technology and digitalisation to support the global energy transition.
- The consortium comprises five global energy companies: Shell, PETRONAS, PetroChina, Mitsubishi Corporation and KOGAS.
- LNG Canada is initially consisting of two LNG processing units, or trains.
- First exports are targeted for mid-2025.
- LNG carriers will transport the liquefied natural gas from Kitimat to markets in Asia.
With digital twin technology as a cornerstone of how they work right from the commissioning and start-up phases, LNG Canada is embedding digital workflows and collaborative environments with technology that lays the foundation for the next 40 years of safe and sustainable operations.
“LNG Canada is designed to be the lowest carbon-producing LNG facility of its size worldwide. We are setting the benchmark for safe, reliable, and environmentally responsible LNG.” Nilesh Sarin, IT Manager, LNG Canada
Challenges
LNG Canada needed a solution that focused on the execution of work in the smartest way possible. Being in a remote location and having expensive costs for operations and travel to and from the location – required a new approach. One that would support onsite workers with digitalised end-to-end workflows and the ability to rely on support teams located remotely.
The company’s need for efficiency and remote visibility is what led them to investigate digital solutions. It wasn’t just a matter of sticking on digitalisation as an afterthought. Rather, digitalisation was embedded right from the start to help identify operational risks, improve maintenance planning and scheduling, increase time on tools and augment human decision-making with AI and simulator models to accelerate business processes.
“Our challenge has always been how to effectively connect people to work and to other LNGCers across multiple working locations. We’ve addressed the challenge with Kongsberg Digital’s AI-embedded digital twin… By connecting contextualised data from day-to-day frontline operations up to leadership and on to joint venture participants, data and information can be used throughout the organisation to provide real-time insights and improve collaboration.” Shawn Baxter, Asset Excellence Manager, LNG Canada
Results
LNG Canada has equipped workers on-site and in remote locations with a digital twin that provides a single virtual interface for planning, managing, and executing daily workflows. Even before the facility is on-stream, LNG Canada’s innovative digital journey and solid partnership with Kongsberg Digital are changing the way people work.
The benefits that Kongsberg Digital’s digital twin technology brings to different users:
Senior digital specialist
Digital twin technology augmented with AI and simulation enables faster information retrieval and higher-quality decision-making. It introduces a new culture of work that changes old behaviours like long meeting cycles to solve urgent on-site problems. Information is presented in a way that makes sense to users, and the number of systems is being reduced so that information is centralised in the digital twin for consistency across user inputs and navigation.
“We have seen people with more than 25 years of experience in the field telling us, ‘This is the first time that something has been delivered to us that actually makes our job easier.’ We’re changing the way people work, even before our facility is in operation.” Roland Robinson, LNG Canada
Production field technician
It’s easier to do site evaluations, access information while on-site and prepare for commissioning and startup. A digital twin helps pre-plan and visualise considerations and hazards that technicians need to account for during walk-downs – even while the site is still in the construction phase.
“With the digital twin available at any time right from my computer, I can spend as much time as I want in the field without leaving my desk. And when I’m in the field, I can look up equipment information in seconds on my tablet.” Miranda Kurucz, LNG Canada
Remote maintenance planner
Remote planners can support on-site teams from any location in the world, using the digital twin to streamline and speed up work package preparation, access live plant data and facilitate real-time collaboration with on-site execution teams.
“As a remote planner, it would be difficult for me to visualise what the plant looks like. There are also activities taking place on-site that we are not aware of, but with the digital twin, we have access to view all ongoing maintenance activities and information related to their corresponding parameters.” Stephanie Marasigan, LNG Canada
