The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that cash-starved oil sands producers face mounting pressure to slash carbon emissions or dial back long-term growth plans after Alberta's NDP government unveiled new rules aimed at cleaning up the industry's "dirty oil" reputation. The Globe's Jeff Lewis writes that Alberta Premier Rachel Notley slapped a hard cap on planet-warming greenhouse gases from the sector, drawing praise from environmentalists and some energy executives with a plan to limit the industry's soaring emissions to no more than 100 megatonnes (Mt) a year.
The measures also include a 10 Mt allotment above that threshold for projects that use co-generation as well as provisions to enable additional bitumen processing. "We fully anticipate oil sands growth beyond 2020, but the licence to do so is now tied to lower-emission barrels," Royal Bank of Canada analyst Greg Pardy said Monday in a note to clients.
Alberta is hoping to dent fast-rising oil sands emissions in exchange for popular support for pipeline proposals after U.S.
President Barack Obama scuttled TransCanada's $8-billion Keystone XL project earlier this month.
The challenge now is to funnel crude to Canada's coasts.
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