Transition is away from emissions, not oil: Alberta

The energy rich Canadian province of Alberta is strengthening international alliances during a conference on its home soil this week, but remains at odds with its own federal government over the energy transition.

"We're transitioning away from emissions, we're not transitioning away from oil and gas," Alberta premier Danielle Smith said today at the World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, Alberta.

Alberta's largest city is hosting delegates from around the world with the conference's focus on the energy transition. Smith's province — Canada's largest petroleum producing region — will be front and centre in that transition alongside other major producing countries. But that transition must consider reliability and affordability, said Smith.

"You have to build out the new energy system at the same time as maintaining the existing energy system so you have that continuity," said Smith, who's views on energy align with Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who spoke earlier in the day .

"I think he's very pragmatic," said Smith of Prince Abdulaziz's approach to the energy transition, while noting how progressive his country has been with what it can do with captured carbon dioxide (CO2). "I feel like we're going to be in a bit of a technological and innovation race with Saudi Arabia" and more information sharing will ensue as both aim for a carbon neutral target.

Smith and Prince Abdulaziz also found common ground in their opposition to the IEA's recent oil demand forecast, which predicts peak oil, natural gas and coal by the end of this decade. It projects oil demand will be 25mn b/d by 2050, roughly one quarter of what it is today.

Promoting the IEA's forecast was Canada's minister of energy and natural resources Jonathan Wilkinson the previous evening at the same conference, forcing Smith to counter both the minister's message and the IEA's "ludicrous" forecast.

"That was a bit of a slap in the face, let's be frank about that," said Smith. An international energy conference was not the place for Wilkinson to make that speech, Smith continued, at a time when she is trying to make Canada an "investment magnet."

"This is not an industry that's winding down," said Smith. "It's an industry that's transitioning away from emissions, and the fact that we saw other speakers talking about it in the same terms suggest to me that it was minister Wilkinson who was offside."

"We're not going to phase out production of oil and natural gas, we're just going to change the way in which we use it," she said. Hydrogen from natural gas will likely become an increasingly important fuel in the province and carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) will play a role in that development, Smith said.

Wilkinson in his 17 September speech said that oil and gas after 2050 would primarily be used in applications not requiring combustion, such as petrochemicals, asphalt, lubricants, solvents, carbon graphite and waxes.

While CCUS proponents, many of them oil sands companies, await regulatory clarity and government incentives, Smith said her government plans to unveil a credit for industry pursuing this technology when she travels to Dubai for Cop 28 on 30 November. "We're hoping that the federal government will be able to match us so that we can make a joint announcement together in Dubai."

By Brett Holmes

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