Canada's Energy Boom Enters Next Phase
Two energy booms are taking shape in Western Canada, one already underway and another waiting on regulatory approval. The first boom is in natural gas, LNG, and liquids, with companies like Pembina Pipeline, TC Energy, Enbridge, and AltaGas investing heavily in the sector.
Pembina Pipeline, for example, completed a new fractionator at its Redwater complex near Edmonton, adding 55,000 barrels a day of propane-plus capacity. It also sanctioned a C$570-million extraction plant backed by a long-term ethane agreement with Dow.
The second boom is in oil sands production and export capacity, which is technically plausible but still waiting on regulatory approval. The issue is not whether Canadian oil can grow, but whether the rules governing that growth will be durable enough to finance projects whose lives can be measured in decades.