Pathways Alliance increasingly confident $16.5B carbon capture project will go ahead

The oilsands industry group that has proposed building what would be one of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage projects says it is more confident than ever it will go ahead with construction.

The Pathways Alliance is a consortium of Canada’s largest oilsands companies, which have banded together to propose a $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage network to decrease emissions from oilsands sites in northern Alberta.

The group hasn’t yet made a final investment decision but has spent about $80 million on preliminary engineering, design and environmental work.

Last week, the federal government provided additional details about its promised carbon capture investment tax credit, including a timeline for its finalization.

It also promised that up to $7 billion will be allocated to special contracts intended to give companies the confidence they need to make major investments to lower their greenhouse gas emissions.

Pathways president Kendall Dilling says he feels more confident now than he did a year ago, adding Pathways is preparing to file for regulatory approval for its project within the next couple of months.

Pathways members — Suncor Energy, Imperial Oil, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd., Cenovus Energy, MEG Energy and ConocoPhillips Canada — have collectively pledged to work together to reduce the sector’s absolute emissions by 22 million tonnes by 2030 and to reach net-zero by 2050.

— More to come…