'Cooking with gas': Alberta Premier Rachel Notley touts Heartland petrochemical plant
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is visiting a petrochemical project outside Edmonton Thursday to tout some of big things happening in the industry.
Calgary-based Inter Pipeline's $3.5-billion Heartland Petrochemical Complex in Strathcona County is one of the first projects to receive assistance under the first round of the province's Petrochemicals Diversification Program.
In 2018, Notley renewed support for the program, committing a total of $1.1 billion in future royalty credits for approved projects that will build manufacturing facilities to turn ethane, methane and propane into more valuable products.
The other big thing on the morning's agenda is the massive heavy load that has been making its way along Edmonton area highways since Monday.
The Inter Pipeline complex is the final destination of the 820-tonne polypropylene splitter, which is as long as a CFL football field. It is the heaviest load ever to move on an Alberta highway.
The splitter was fabricated at Dacro Industries in Edmonton over the course of a year.
Once it is complete, the complex will convert propane from natural gas into polypropylene that can be used for products like medical equipment, currency and active outerwear and apparel.
'Now that is big'
"That propylene is going to be moved to another part of the plant where it's going to be processed and turned into polypropylene, or plastics," Notley said during the news conference.
"We're just cooking with gas up here in northern Alberta. And that plastic is going to be used around the world to make a wide range of products, from kids' toys to auto parts and containers to electronics."
The massive splitter is an example of what Alberta can achieve when the government "supercharges energy upgrading," Notley said.
"All told, Inter Pipeline's Heartland Petrochemical Complex is a $3.5 billion investment that has created 180 full-time operational jobs around Fort Saskatchewan and more than 2,300 full-time construction jobs province-wide.
"Now that is big."
