Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the submission of the West Coast Pipeline Project at Trans Am Piping Products in Calgary on Thursday, July 2, 2026. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia

Article content

The Alberta government says it will give “financial supports” to oilsands companies to encourage them to raise their production and fill a proposed pipeline that would carry a million barrels of oil per day to the Pacific Coast.

Article content

The revelation is part of a new set of disclosures released by the federal government on its deal with Alberta and oilsands companies to satisfy Ottawa’s climate goals while building a massive new export pipeline for oil.

Article content

Article content

Article content

A backgrounder on the deal lays out broad terms on which five oilsands companies agree to build a carbon capture and storage mega-project. The Pathways project has long been a key condition for Prime Minister Mark Carney in order to get his blessing for a new oil pipeline.

Article content

Article content

The backgrounder document, released Monday, offers a window into some of the concessions each party has made in order to expand production and ship the oil to energy-hungry markets in Asia.

Article content

The document says oilsands producers — Canada Natural Resources Ltd., Suncor Energy Inc., Cenovus Energy Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd. and ConocoPhilips Co. — have agreed to cut their emissions by six million tonnes per year by early 2035 through the Pathways project. They expect further reductions of 10 million tonnes per year a decade later.

Article content

Among other measures, Ottawa has agreed to provide oilsands companies with financing to support operating costs for carbon capture projects.

Article content

And Alberta said it will offer incentives to encourage more production.

Article content

Energy investors have for years demanded that oil and gas companies stop building large, risky production projects and instead focus on paying down debt and returning excess funds to shareholders.

Article content

Article content

But these marching orders from investors run counter to the Alberta government’s goals of doubling oil and gas production by 2035. A new pipeline to the British Columbia coast is part of those ambitions to build future revenue streams to help pay for government services.

Article content

Premier Danielle Smith has publicly mused that she’s open to the idea of offering oilsands companies some incentives to invest in greenfield development. She has since put the commitment in writing.

Article content

“Alberta has agreed to implement financial supports to enable the oil production growth needed to underpin new export capacity,” according to the backgrounder released Monday.

Article content

More to come …

Article content

Article content