The chief executive of Cenovus Energy, which is part of alliance of Canada’s biggest oil sands producers, on Monday said friction between the federal and Alberta governments was making it more difficult to hold meaningful discussions on funding carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology needed to decarbonize the oil and gas sector.
The Pathways Alliance, a collaboration between Canada’s six largest oil sands producers targeting net-zero emissions by 2050, is planning to develop a CCS hub in northern Alberta, expected to cost C$16.5 billion ($12.3 billion) by 2030. The group wants public money to fund 66%, or roughly $10.9 billion, of that.
So far the federal government has unveiled an investment tax credit worth C$2.6 billion over the next five years, but both Ottawa and Alberta say the other should contribute more.
“It’s very hard to have meaningful discussions with another party when you’re lobbing rocks at each other,” Alex Pourbaix, CEO of Pathways member Cenovus Energy, told Reuters in an interview.
“I would like to see the temperature turned down a little bit.”