The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Alberta will offer $500-million in royalty credits to Pembina Pipeline and Inter Pipeline for their petrochemical projects, the government said on Monday, as it seeks to diversify its ailing economy. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe quotes the provincial government as saying the companies were the approved applicants of its Petrochemicals Diversification Program, which supports construction of facilities that use propane or methane, components of natural gas, as feedstock to produce materials for products including plastics, detergents and textiles. Although petrochemical facilities do not pay royalties, the credits they earn can be traded or sold to oil or natural gas producers, which in turn can use them to reduce royalty payments to the government. Pembina's project is a joint venture with Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Co. and has been approved to receive up to $300-million in royalty credits to build a propylene-polypropylene plant. The project by Inter Pipeline, which would process propane into propylene, has been approved to receive up to $200-million in royalty credits. The plants will be operational in 2021.