No firms apply for province’s oil incentive

REGINA An oil processing investment incentive introduced by Saskatchewan’s government last year has not been accessed by any energy companies.

The incentive was dubbed in March 2017 as: “targeted to encourage more processing of our oil resources in the province, this program has the added potential of supporting production growth without the need for further crude oil pipeline capacity.”

It is touted online by the province as a program that “encourages industry investment in valueadded oil processing projects with a total output of less than 60,000 barrels per day” and boasts, “eligible companies are provided with transferable royalty credits on new production worth up to 10 per cent of approved capital expenditures to a maximum of $75.0 million per project.”

But over a year after being introduced, not one company has applied for the program.

“The rationale as far as what was envisioned and why and everything, it wasn’t about a general subsidy for oil and gas. That’s not what it was about. It was about incentivizing the value-add oil processing projects that might come along and be a good fit,” said Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre.

“It’s just important to realize or to note if a company were to apply, there are regulatory steps that company would have to go through to get through just the process, and that just hasn’t happened yet,” she said, adding she did not know if any company will apply.

NDP critic Cathy Sproule said she thinks the program was, “one of those picking winners and loser approaches we’ve seen (from) this government from time to time” because a refinery had been announced in Stoughton.

She says it is “very clear” that is what the incentive was designed for and the company is likely to apply for the incentive when it is ready to do so.

Eyre denied that was the case.

It was about incentivizing the value-add oil processing projects that might come along and be a good fit.