Alberta pipeline proposal on track for July 1 deadline amid uncertainty
The province says its one-million-barrel-per-day pipeline proposal will meet next week's Canada Day deadline for submission to Ottawa's major projects office.
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Alberta's government says it will meet the July 1 deadline to submit a pipeline proposal to Ottawa's Major Projects Office, but questions linger about whether the project is commercially viable.
Last month, the federal and Alberta governments agreed to set Canada Day as the target for the province to submit a proposal for a new pipeline. Ottawa would then have until October 1 to designate it as a project of national interest. The agreement also includes a plan to increase Alberta's industrial carbon price to $130 a tonne by 2040, rather than hitting $170 per tonne by 2030.
When the deal was announced, Alberta said design and construction could begin as early as September 2027. On Friday, Premier Danielle Smith's office confirmed the proposal is still on track. "Alberta's government is finalizing our proposal for a one million barrel per day pipeline to Canada's west coast for submission to the Major Projects Office by July 1," said Sam Blackett, the premier's press secretary.
But Richard Masson, former Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission CEO, said it's unclear the July 1 target will be met, especially as other deadlines between the province and federal government were already missed earlier this year. The primary question is whether the pipeline is commercially viable. "For a pipeline to be commercially viable, you need to have producers saying, 'Yes, we want this. We're ready to sign up for it.' We haven't heard that," Masson said.
Alberta has considered three pipeline routes through northern British Columbia and a fourth through southern B.C., with a southern route appearing more likely given tanker bans and opposition to a northern route. The Pathways carbon capture project, proposed by the Oil Sands Alliance and involving Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus Energy, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy, and ConocoPhilips Canada, is "mutually dependent" on a pipeline under the agreement. Negotiations over how to share costs and risks between industry and government remain ongoing.