Alberta and Ottawa are touting a grand bargain on 'decarbonized' oil but some are skeptical
OTTAWA — 'Grand bargain' was the phrase of the day on Parliament Hill after Prime Minister Mark Carney and his provincial counterparts found common ground on oil and gas development.
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'If (the Conservatives) were listening to yesterday, there is a grand bargain,' Energy Minister Tim Hodgson boasted to the Opposition benches.
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'There is a bargain that the premier of Alberta has signed onto.'
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Alberta Premier Danielle Smith left Monday's first ministers' meeting with a new deal exchanging oil sands access to coastal waters for massive investments in decarbonization technologies, but experts warn this could be a costly pipe dream.
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'I'm worried we're seeing (the first ministers) fall into a trap of wanting to have their cake and eat it too,' said Tim McMillan, a partner at Garrison Strategy and the former head of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
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'Let's call it the grand bargain,' Smith told reporters in Saskatoon, referring to the idea of twinning new pipeline proposals with large-scale decarbonization projects.
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Carney said Monday that he'd consider fast-tracking a new oil pipeline to the West Coast if it shipped 'decarbonized barrels' to new markets.
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'There's real potential there (and), if further developed, the federal government will look to advance it,' said Carney.
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But McMillan says the devil could be in the details.
'I don't know exactly what they're talking about with decarbonization, but… it may be linked to carbon capture, which does not increase our exports (or) investability,' said McMillan.
'If (carbon capture) becomes a long-term requirement for new projects, it will likely have a negative effect on future investments in Canada's upstream oil and gas sector.'
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The Calgary-based Pathways Alliance, a group of six major oil sands producers, has put forward a $16.5-billion decarbonization network that would reroute carbon emissions from nearly two dozen facilities to an underground hub near Cold Lake, Alta.
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