Canada PoliticsAlberta investigating feasibility of oil pipeline through Northwest Territories
Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories could soon become the hub of Canada's economic prosperity.
Last year, when NWT Premier Bob McLeod mused about building an oil pipeline through his territory — and thereby giving Alberta oil companies access to Asian markets — the media dismissed it as a pie-in-the-sky idea.
It looks like the Alberta government didn't. According to Financial Post, they've now hired an energy consultant to assess the feasibility of the project.
The Alberta government says it is in “serious talks” with the Northwest Territories to build an oil pipeline connecting the oil sands to the northern hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk, near the Beaufort Sea.
“We have been approached by the government of the Northwest Territories and we are engaged in a conversation with them because they have immense resources as well and are about to take responsibility for their own resources,” Ken Hughes, Alberta’s Minister of Energy told the National Post.
You can't blame the Alberta oil industry — and by extension the Redford government — for looking at alternative pipeline routes.
Alberta's oil sand producers have tried to send their oil south but have so been stymied by Barack Obama and the opponents of the Keystone pipeline.
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They're also trying to send their bitumen to Asia through British Columbia but are facing a lot of resistance to the proposed Enbridge Gateway pipeline project. And, if the B.C. NDP win the election on May 14th as expected, it's going to become even more challenging.
Even if it's found to be feasible, there will be challenges in the Northwest Territories as well.
Fred Carmichael, chairman of the Aboriginal Pipeline Group, recently told Petroleum News that a pipeline to the Beaufort Sea would indeed face a backlash from aboriginal groups.
But in the NWT, unlike British Columbia and the United States, the pipeline is being actively promoted by its government.
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Access to Asian markets would result in Canada's GDP growing by $8.9 billion over the next 25 years.
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