Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith are eyeing a fall 2027 start date for construction of a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast.
It’s part of a plan to accomplish the remaining steps of the landmark energy deal they signed last fall.
There is to be a new scheme for carbon emissions pricing in Alberta, and a commitment from Carney to declare the pipeline as being in the national interest by October of this year.
Alberta’s effective industrial carbon emission price is to rise to $130 per tonne by 2040. And its headline price would rise to $140 per tonne also by 2040 from the current $95 per tonne.
The effective price refers to how much carbon credits are sold for on the market, while the headline price refers to how much companies pay the province to comply with emission limits.
Carney and Smith, meeting in Calgary, said the implementation plan shows Alberta and Canada are serious about supporting and expanding the energy sector.
“We’re much closer to attaining our joint ambition to make Canada into a global energy leader and a trusted supplier of responsibly produced lower emissions energy in the world,” Smith told reporters. “We’ve accomplished a lot together in less than six months.”
The prime minister said the pipeline remains dependent on the Pathways carbon-capture project in Alberta.
That means the next step is reaching a mutual agreement with the Oil Sands Alliance, the consortium of major oil players behind the project.
Alberta officials said the province hopes to see oil start flowing through the pipeline in 2033 or 2034.
Oil and gas industry leaders have said in recent weeks that Ottawa’s carbon policy is putting Canada at a competitive disadvantage, especially compared to other oil-exporting nations that don’t have carbon pricing.
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