This week, the Alberta government announced additional details with respect to three primary investment programs pursuant to the proposed Energy Diversification Act.
As part of its second round of the Petrochemicals Diversification Program, the Alberta government will invest up to $500 million in royalty credits over four years (beginning in 2020 to 2021). The program is intended to encourage the development of value-added petrochemical manufacturing in Alberta and the second round has been expanded to accommodate proposals that include processing ethane, in addition to propane and methane.
Petrochemicals Feedstock Infrastructure Program
As part of the Petrochemical Feedstock Infrastructure Program, the Alberta government will provide up to $500 million in loan guarantees and grants over three years (beginning in 2021 to 2022). The program anticipates that the facilities from the Petrochemicals Diversification Program will require feedstock and is intended to provide investment that support the development of facilities and infrastructure for such feedstock.
The Petrochemical Feedstock Infrastructure Program and round two of the Petrochemicals Diversification Program are designed to complement each other, with the staggered timelines allowing the Alberta government to coordinate a streamlined process for selecting and announcing program proponents.
As part of the Partial Upgrading Program, the Alberta government will provide up to $1 billion of investments over eight years (beginning in 2019 to 2020). The program is intended to provide investment towards partial upgrading to support oil sands competitiveness by reducing industry costs, increasing pipeline capacity and enabling more refineries to process Alberta bitumen products.
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