Smith believes Alberta still needs more oil export capacity despite pipeline expansions

CALGARY — Premier Danielle Smith remains confident the proposed pipeline to the BC coast will move forward, as global demand for Alberta’s oil and Canada’s status as a reliable source make the project attractive despite other competing pipeline expansions being underway.Speaking to reporters in Calgary on Friday, the premier pointed to rising Alberta oil production — which she says has grown from roughly 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) to five million bpd since she took office — as evidence that new export capacity is consistently being filled by the industry despite some critics questioning if that capacity can be met.“If we could get more barrels to Asia, they would take whatever it is that we can sell them, whether it's China or South Korea or Japan or Indonesia, or even India,” Smith said.“We're hearing a real need to diversify where they get their product from. So I think that there is plenty of room for an increasing market and for there to be an increasing amount of share coming from Alberta.”.UPDATED: Smith, Carney announce new West Coast pipeline plan, industrial carbon tax deal.Currently, Enbridge has said it is advancing approximately 400,000 bpd of additional capacity on its Mainline system, while Trans Mountain is looking at expansion projects that could add between 200,000 and 300,000 bpd of capacity to the company's system.In late April, US President Donald Trump signed an order authorizing the Bridger Pipeline’s proposed project to transport Canadian crude from the US-Canada border to Wyoming.The project is set to have the capacity to transport more than 1 million bpd and, if built and connected, could increase Canada’s crude exports to the US by more than 12%.Calgary-based South Bow Energy, the company behind Keystone XL, is partnering with Bridger on the project.Smith argued creating a direct West Coast route to the Asian market would provide Alberta producers with a major logistical advantage, reducing shipping time to Asia from 20-25 days to roughly eight to ten.“That's part of the reason why we're looking at [the project],” Smith said..UPDATED: Trump approves Bridger pipeline to move Canadian oil to Wyoming.“It also has the advantage of reducing the differential on Western Canada Select. We already saw that it reduced dramatically with the opening of Trans Mountain. We suspect it could reduce another two to three dollars per barrel even further by having more markets, which benefits every single barrel that we sell.”The premier also addressed concerns over the proposed Pathways Alliance carbon capture project, which is a major part of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) she signed with Prime Minister Mark Carney, reiterating that both the pipeline and Pathways are interconnected, but acknowledged her government had “a little bit more work to do with the oil sands groups” to get private sector backing.“I think that the economics are there and I think [we will] get the approvals, [as well as] the private sector’s interest in helping to develop this pipeline, and being able to fill it,” Smith stated.On negotiations surrounding the overall proposal, Smith said she believes the industry will ultimately support the MOU once discussions continue.“They'll see that there's a number of things that the federal government has done to meet us in the middle and to make sure that we have found the right balance between reducing emissions in a way that allows for technology to develop, but also keeping the market competitive,” Smith said, adding she hoped it would be “a matter of a month or two that we’d be able to get to an agreement.”In the MOU, it states Alberta intends to submit a formal pipeline proposal by July 1 to the federal Major Projects Office and seek conditional approval by October 1.“I think that gives [us] some idea of the sense of urgency we have about coming to an agreement with Pathways,” she said.“As the Prime Minister has said, the pipeline doesn't go ahead without Pathways... We're highly motivated to get that negotiated very soon.”

Smith believes Alberta still needs more oil export capacity despite pipeline expansions

Related Stories

UPDATED: Smith, Carney announce new West Coast pipeline plan, industrial carbon tax deal

Ottawa reportedly agrees to full approval of Alberta's West Coast pipeline by September 2027

KAPLAN: Pathways CCS is stalled because Big Oil doesn’t believe in Carney and Smith’s net zero fantasy

EXCLUSIVE: BC NDP orders secret campaign to kill Alberta’s planned new Northern oil pipeline