The National Post reports in its Thursday, July 3, edition that the first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the LNG Canada Development Inc. terminal near Kitimat, B.C., shipped out on Monday. The Post's Jane Switzer writes that the shipment marks Canada's inaugural push into the global LNG market and comes at a crucial time, as the country looks to diversify its export markets. When natural gas is liquefied, it takes up about 600 times less space than its gaseous form. Utility company FortisBC describes it as "roughly the equivalent of shrinking a beach ball to the size of a ping pong ball." It simplifies and reduces costs for transporting to areas without pipelines, allowing for loading onto tankers for shipment to Asia and Europe. Once it arrives, the LNG is stored and re-gasified. Canada's largest natural gas producer is Tourmaline Oil. Other major producers include Canadian Natural Resources, ARC Resources, Ovintiv, Peyto Exploration & Development, Cenovus Energy, Petronas Energy Canada and Whitecap Resources. Canada is currently the world's fifth-largest producer of natural gas, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the fourth-largest exporter."