AB: Propane strengthening local economy in Alberta

Industrial operations in the Alberta Heartland region will have attracted over $40 billion in investments and contributed about $2 billion in local revenues from 2017 to 2020 due to projects like Inter Pipeline’s Heartland Petrochemical Complex facility, according to Ernst & Young LLP’s new report recently published in the Edmonton Journal.

Starting in 2021, Inter Pipeline’s $3.5 billion facility will convert low-cost propane into 525,000 tonnes per year of polypropylene, a plastic used in the manufacturing of a wide range of finished products.

Investments in the petrochemical sector are helping to strengthen local economies around Edmonton. They support 31,570 full-time equivalent jobs and produce $5.2 billion in gross domestic product and output nationally, according to the report.

The Canada Kuwait Petrochemical Corp. (CKPC), a joint venture of Pembina Pipeline Corp. and the Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait, announced final investment plans in February 2019 for a $4.5 billion facility in Sturgeon County that will produce 550,000 tonnes of value-added plastic products from propane per year.

Petrochemical investments utilizing locally sourced propane generate long-term growth opportunities by creating jobs and attracting further investment. Both projects benefited from the Alberta Petrochemicals Diversification Program, a program that provides royalty credits in exchange for building facilities that turn propane, ethane, and methane into feedstocks.

The CPA is in support of encouraging investment in the industry through this type of innovative program.

To read the Edmonton Journal article, click here.