{"id":506234,"date":"2026-03-06T00:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506234\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T00:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:52:07","slug":"canadian-natural-pauses-8-25-billion-oil-sands-expansion-citing-carbon-policy-uncertainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/506234\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Natural pauses $8.25-billion oil sands expansion, citing carbon policy uncertainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A pumpjack draws out oil and gas from a well head near Calgary, Alta.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) CNQ-T<\/a> has hit pause on the planned $8.25-billion expansion of its Jackpine oil<\/a> sands mine in northern Alberta, citing uncertainty over government policies and calling for the end of carbon pricing. <\/p>\n

The Jackpine project, which would have included the construction of a new extraction and treatment processing plant, was slated to increase the Calgary-based company\u2019s bitumen production by 150,000 barrels a day.<\/p>\n

CNRL president Scott Stauth told an investor call Thursday morning that it was being deferred \u201cdue to lack of finalization of government regulatory policies around carbon pricing and methane, which creates uncertainty and economic burden for our long-term growth.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Stauth said the company will wait until the federal and Alberta governments iron out new rules to figure out if the project remains economically viable. <\/p>\n

Carbon-pricing and emissions policies form part of a sweeping energy agreement signed by the two governments in November. <\/p>\n

Ottawa, Alberta sign energy deal signalling major shift in relationship<\/a><\/p>\n

The agreement laid the conditions for construction of a new oil pipeline to the West Coast to help diversify energy exports and committed Alberta to boosting its industrial carbon price, which the province froze last year at $95 a tonne. The memorandum of understanding promised to raise the minimum credit value, which it calls the \u201ceffective price,\u201d to $130 a tonne. <\/p>\n

It did not set a deadline, but both sides committed to an agreement on carbon pricing by April 1.<\/p>\n

CNRL is awaiting the outcome of those negotiations, Mr. Stauth told The Globe and Mail in an interview. <\/p>\n

He added that the industrial price on carbon should be scrapped altogether for oil sands companies that use emissions-reduction technologies such as carbon capture and storage. <\/p>\n

Mr. Stauth pointed to the plan in the agreement for construction of the Pathways Project \u2013 a massive CCS effort that the deal says will be built by 2040 to achieve emissions reductions at date-specific intervals. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe should not be subject to carbon compliance costs when we are, in fact, sequestering those CO2 emissions,\u201d he said. \u201cIn order for the oil sands to be competitive, the carbon cost should not apply to projects that have CCS.\u201d <\/p>\n

Group behind Pathways carbon-capture project changes name to Oil Sands Alliance<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Stauth said the outcome of the federal-provincial discussions would govern whether it makes sense for oil sands companies to build the Pathways Project, as well as the sector\u2019s overall economic viability. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful that the governments will come together with a fiscal package that promotes that growth opportunity from a competitive basis, so that our oil sands can compete with any jurisdiction anywhere in the world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

It has been a record-setting year of production for CNRL and many of its oil sands peers, including Suncor Energy<\/a> Inc. SU-T<\/a> and Cenovus Energy<\/a> Inc. CVE-T<\/a> <\/p>\n

CNRL produced 1.57 million barrels a day in 2025 \u2013 roughly 15 per cent more than in 2024. Its net earnings were approximately $10.8-billion.<\/p>\n

The company also made some big portfolio moves. On Nov. 1, it closed the asset swap on the Athabasca Oil Sands Project with Shell, giving it 100-per-cent ownership and operation of the Albian oil sands mines and their associated reserves.<\/p>\n

Canadian Natural bids for Tourmaline Peace River natural gas project<\/a><\/p>\n

Subsequent to year-end, it bought a collection of natural gas properties in Alberta\u2019s Peace River region that Tourmaline Oil Corp. TOU-T<\/a> put up for sale in November, confirming an earlier report by The Globe.<\/p>\n

The portfolio included 2,428 horizontal wells, 34 gas plants and 15,500 kilometres of pipelines. Last year, analysts estimated the assets could fetch up to $1.4-billion, but CNRL paid $765-million, according to company disclosures. <\/p>\n

CNRL was a substantial operator in the region even before it picked up the Tourmaline assets, and Mr. Stauth said the additional sites so close to the company\u2019s existing infrastructure would reduce operating and capital costs. <\/p>\n

With a \u201csignificant capacity of supply\u201d of natural gas in the Montney area of B.C. and Western Alberta that could \u201cdeliver significant amount of gas volumes for many decades to come,\u201d Mr. Stauth said that it\u2019s crucial for Canada to add more export capacity. <\/p>\n

CNRL is one of the country\u2019s largest natural gas producers after a series of acquisitions in recent years. It uses a significant amount of the fuel \u2013 32 per cent of what it produces \u2013 in its oil sands refineries. It exports 33 per cent of its natural gas production and sells the remainder in domestic markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A pumpjack draws out oil and gas from a well head near Calgary,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[2428,2416,2429,4,2408,2430,103,2407,2422,2423,2418,2409,2406,101,526,192,2421,2414,2441,2410,2411,2420,2417,149,983,2431,2413,2436,2437,2439,2434,2438,2432,2435,2412,2425,2426,111,2424,2433,79,2415,74,2427,2419,194,965,2440],"class_list":["post-506234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}