Provincial Government Confirms Petrochemicals Diversification Program

The Government of Alberta confirmed its $1.1 billion commitment to the Petrochemicals Diversification Program. This program encourages investment and diversifies the economy. It supports privately funded large-scale projects by providing royalty credits to companies that build facilities to turn ethane, methane and propane feedstocks into products such as plastics, fabrics and fertilizers. Royalty credits are issued once projects become operational.

Round 2 of the program was originally announced in 2018. Of the $1.1 billion committed, only $150 million had been confirmed to date, with decisions on other applications on hold. By confirming this commitment, government will now resume its consideration of current submitted applications.

Through this program, government is keeping its promise to implement recommendations from the Natural Gas Advisory Panel. The recommendations include encouraging in-demand Alberta projects via royalty and investment credits and continuing existing value-add initiatives.

The province is discontinuing the Petrochemicals Feedstock Infrastructure Program and the Partial Upgrading Program. These programs rely on grants and loan guarantees. In addition, the province will not continue with the request for proposals for refinery projects, which would have also included potential government support.