Alberta eyes oil pipeline to Arctic

$50K study to consider feasibility of pumping bitumen to Tuktoyaktuk

Alberta has turned its eye to Canada’s Arctic as its latest possible avenue to pipe oil out and into the global market. The province has backed a $50,000 feasibility study to see if it’s physically and financially viable to pump oilsands bitumen to Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., on the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean.

“We’re looking at market access in all directions,” said Mike Feenstra, press secretary for Alberta Energy Minister Ken Hughes.

The province says $30 billion in oilsands revenue is being left in the ground, landlocked from a global market. And with the Northern Gateway pipeline to Kitimat, B.C., and the Keystone XL line through the U.S. still in limbo, Alberta continues to explore all options.

“Whether that’s north, south, east or west . . . this is just another option,” Feenstra said. “If we can’t get world price, then we’re not getting full value for our resources.” The province hired Calgary-based Canatec Associates International Ltd. to complete the study by the fall. While this would be a dream pipe for the Northwest Territories, it’s more a sign from Alberta that it will explore all options to sell its oil, one expert says. “There’s an element of game playing here that’s involved with all this,” said Bob Page, director of the Enbridge Centre for Corporate Sustainability and professor at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. He called the proposal “dubious.” “The issue we’ve got here is you’re dealing with oilsands product, which is about the highest-cost in the world, and then you’re trying to then create a totally new delivery system over several thousand miles,” Page said. A new port would be of significant advantage for the Northwest Territories, which recently reached a devolution deal with the federal government and gained more control over its natural resources.