A consortium of Canada’s largest oilsands firms stated it goals to submit an utility earlier than the top of the week for approval of its proposed $16.5-billion carbon seize pipeline mission.
Pathways Alliance spokeswoman Jerrica Goodwin confirmed the anticipated timeline in an e-mail Thursday.
The oilsands group — whose membership consists of Suncor Vitality Inc., Canadian Pure Sources Ltd., Cenovus Vitality Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., MEG Vitality Corp. and ConocoPhillips Canada — has beforehand said that it can not make a closing funding choice for its marquee mission till it has the Alberta Vitality Regulator’s approval in hand.
As soon as underway, the regulatory course of is anticipated to take no less than a yr.
However in an interview in November, Pathways president Kendall Dilling stated that any submitting for regulatory approval needs to be interpreted as an indication of dedication by the businesses to the mission.
“I do suppose it’s truthful to say that as we submit our regulatory utility, and as we proceed with the numerous spending by means of 2024, that needs to be interpreted as our bona fide dedication to this mission and transferring it ahead,” Dilling stated on the time.
This week’s improvement is far anticipated; it comes almost three years after Canada’s largest oilsands firms introduced they might band collectively in a joint effort to scale back greenhouse gasoline emissions from oilsands manufacturing.
The businesses are proposing to construct a 400-kilometre line that might finally transport carbon dioxide emissions from 20 completely different oilsands manufacturing amenities in northern Alberta and embed them safely in an underground storage hub.
Pathways has stated the mission may assist its member firms obtain a 32 per cent discount from 2019 emissions ranges by 2030.
If accomplished, the Pathways mission can be one of many largest carbon seize and storage initiatives on this planet.
It’s the centrepiece of the oilsands’ business’s pledge to attain net-zero greenhouse gasoline emissions by 2050, one thing the business should do if Canada is to satisfy its worldwide local weather commitments.
However Pathways has been criticized for its perceived slowness in getting shovels within the floor. The consortium has spent a lot of the final three years lobbying for federal and provincial assist for its mission.
Whereas the federal authorities has pledged an funding tax credit score for carbon seize and storage initiatives, in addition to promised a mechanism to backstop the value of carbon in an effort to give certainty to firms contemplating investing in emissions decreasing know-how, the small print of each have but to be hammered out.
As lately as this month, oilsands executives have publicly said that the extent of presidency assist introduced for carbon seize up to now in Canada isn’t sufficient to make the Pathways mission aggressive.
“With what we all know immediately … the federal government funding partnerships in Canada aren’t sufficient for large-scale (carbon seize) to proceed within the oilsands,” stated Cenovus chief sustainability officer Rhona DelFrari on the firm’s current investor day.
“With out aggressive fiscal incentives, our nation dangers being neglected as large-scale emissions discount investments are developed and deployed elsewhere the place they get the most effective returns.”
