The province will allow the Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission (APMC), the crown corporation that manages Alberta’s half of the North West Redwater Sturgeon Refinery, to borrow up to $2.9 billion dollars should the money be needed for financing and operating the refinery.
That’s according to an order in council from Dec. 7 that was recommended by Minister of Energy and Minerals Brian Jean and President of Treasury Board and Minister of Finance Nate Horner.
Previously the APMC could borrow up to $1.8 billion from the province.
“The increase to borrowing capacity simply increases the funds available to the APMC and does not represent actual funds that have or will be lent to the APMC,” said APMC chief of staff Lynda Gwilliam in an email.
The APMC is a 75 per cent toll payer for the refinery and “requires the ability to draw on additional lending if required for future contractual obligations, including capital expenditures, operating costs, financing obligations and maintenance,” said a written statement from Minister Brian Jean’s office.
The statement said that the change to the province’s borrowing and lending requirements on behalf of the APMC “does not represent an increase to the government’s operating budget.”
“If APMC draws on the increased borrowing capacity, it will be used to fulfil contractual obligations, as well as support refinery operations to get Alberta petroleum products to market and continued emissions sequestering,” the statement said.
The province took 50 per cent ownership of the refinery in June 2021. The APMC manages the government’s half of the refinery as part owner and operator, and the other half is owned and managed by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd, a private oil natural gas company. A company called Northwest Refining Inc. previously owned 50 per cent of the refinery, but the province paid $425 million for Northwest’s interest in the project.
The refinery was projected to cost around $5.7 billion to build but wound up costing nearly double that amount. It was plagued with delays.
The refinery produces ultra-low sulphur diesel; naphtha, which is used in high-octane gasoline; and diluent used in bitumen production.
