Alberta’s Energy Opportunity: A Conversation With the Honourable Brian Jean
This week, our guest is the Honourable Brian Jean, Alberta’s Minister of Energy and Minerals. The conversation was recorded at an ARC Financial event in Calgary on June 9.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has underscored the importance of energy security and supply diversity. This, along with more supportive federal policies, is raising expectations for growth in Alberta’s oil and gas sector.
On the podcast this week, Jackie asks Minister Jean about Alberta’s opportunity to expand oil and gas production, including: Is the Strait of Hormuz closure and the Iran war reshaping how people view Canadian energy? What is Alberta’s goal for oil production growth, and what changes, regulatory and otherwise, are supporting that goal? How does Alberta benefit from the build-out of LNG export capacity on the West Coast? The Canada–Alberta MOU outlines a plan to submit a 1 MMB/d oil pipeline to reach Asian markets to the Major Projects Office, with the aim of starting the regulatory review by early July. What is its status, and does the decision on the large oil sands CCS project affect the path forward? Are discussions underway with BC on the pipeline and with local communities, including Indigenous groups? And what are Alberta’s opportunities in mineral production and, potentially, processing?
Content referenced in this podcast:
- Canada Government, Overview of Canada’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy: AI for All (June 4, 2026)
- Global Energy Show (June 9 to 11, 2026)
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Episode 329 transcript
Disclosure:
The information and opinions presented in this ARC Energy Ideas podcast are provided for informational purposes only and are subject to the disclaimer link in the show notes.
Announcer:
This is the ARC Energy Ideas podcast, with Peter Tertzakian and Jackie Forrest, exploring trends that influence the energy business.
Jackie Forrest:
Welcome to the ARC Energy Ideas Podcast. I’m Jackie Forrest.
Peter Tertzakian:
And I’m Peter Tertzakian, and welcome back. Well, Jackie, I got a lot of good feedback from last week’s podcast on artificial intelligence. We had Mark Spieler from NVIDIA. So if you didn’t listen to that, make sure you tune in because it’s a really good one and it’s also a layup for an announcement this week by our federal minister of artificial intelligence, Evan Solomon, and big announcement on how Canada is going to go into AI. We need our own sovereign data centers if we’re going to keep our data and our sensitive computations here in the country.
And so yeah, we’re going to be talking a lot more about AI. And as I said on the podcast last week, AI, artificial intelligence, and the semiconductors that produce this abstraction called artificial intelligence is really all an energy story. So basically AI policy and energy policy really need to be working hand in glove. And this is an area we’re going to explore a lot more in coming podcasts.
Jackie Forrest:
Yeah. And we will put a link to the announcement, and they’re talking about this potentially being $200 billion of economic growth and creating 250,000 new jobs. So lots there to unpack. We’ll put a link to it, because as you say, it’s related to energy.
Also, lots of events going on. I think June and end of May is the event season. Everyone’s trying to get their events in before summer. So I know, Peter, you went to the Energy Roundtable event at the end of May.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, that was a good one. A full day of people and panelists speaking about the current energy circumstances. Of course, energy security played large, as did things like the MOU, LNG, and the usual agenda that Canada’s concerned about on an energy perspective and renewables, indigenous stakeholder issues, and so on and so forth. So it was a great day, and now we have the Global Energy Show.
Jackie Forrest:
So the week that we’re releasing the podcast, Calgary is buzzing with the Global Energy Show. It’s not called the Petroleum Show anymore because it’s got areas for electrification, AI data centers, as we were just talking about, and critical minerals. So yeah, lots going on, whether it be the events or the trade show. It’s always an exciting time in Calgary when that show is on.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah. Lots of energy, if you pardon the pun. Speaking again of energy, let’s talk about the Minister of Energy. So Jackie, you’re hosting the Honorable Brian Jean, our Alberta Minister of Energy. He’s going to come on stage with you at ARC Financial’s event, private event, on when is it this week? And so you’re going to have that conversation and we’re going to turn that conversation into a podcast.
Jackie Forrest:
That’s right. So we’re going to switch now to the conversation we had with the Honorable Brian Jean June 9th at the Petroleum Club. Of course, Brian Jean is a well-known figure from Canadian politics. He was a member of parliament so federally, but more recently entered provincial politics, leading the Wildrose Party, being part of that whole unification into the United Conservative Party, and now our Minister of Energy and Minerals. And so he’s also one of the few people that actually can say they grew up in Fort McMurray. So I think it’s fitting that he is the energy minister.
Peter Tertzakian:
Good. Well, I’m sure it’ll be a great conversation. I’m going to listen in.
Jackie Forrest:
First of all, I know you just came from the Global Energy Show, which kicks off today. So maybe just tell us what’s the mood like over at the Global Petroleum Show? I understand it’s like the biggest ever. 30,000 people are expected to attend.
Brian Jean:
Well, it’s excitement. There’s excitement in the air. I had a panel with Minister Hodgson, the federal Minister of Natural Resources, and we were talking about pipelines in all directions and putting oil even on rail cars as an opportunity.
So I think there’s certainly a lot of excitement. People want to get things happening now and we’re talking about removing barriers, removing regulatory burdens that have been a thorn in our side for many, many years, including the nine bad laws that the federal government have really taken a focus on and removed a lot of the scenarios that were blocking our opportunities for export of our natural resources. So a lot of excitement in the room, especially the folks that have been around a long time. Myself in politics for 20 years, I’ve never seen the situation better than what it is right now.
Jackie Forrest:
Yeah. I mean, you just came back from talking to a federal liberal and you’re excited about the prospects for oil and gas growth. So that’s a big change.
Okay. Well, when we first met, Brian Jean, the second time we met, I reminded you that the first time we met was in late 2008 and the conversation was around pressures from the rapid growth of oil sands production. And you were a member of parliament for the Fort McMurray area at the time and there was concern with the community about the boomtown effect that was happening at the time. What’s the situation like in Fort McMurray now? How do you contrast it to back then?
Brian Jean:
Well, you can certainly see that regulation by governments makes a big difference. What your expectation is will make a big difference on your community and how you build that community. So we’re right now in a situation where we have a huge occupancy rate. So we’re set up perfectly for oil exploration and development up in Northern Alberta. You can buy condos up there. If you’re not interested in investing in oil, you can buy condos up there for 60,000 bucks a piece that cost 250, $300,000 to build 10 years ago.
So the situation has been that while these companies have become much more efficient, which for instance, Suncor has cut $10 a barrel. They expect to cut another five. So now they’re becoming a low cost provider. Well, during that process, you have to eliminate some jobs because that’s one of the biggest costs. And so we’ve had some shrinkage in Fort McMurray. Now that’s changed over the last three years. We’ve seen some substantial growth. But we did see a fire and a flood, and not to get into it, but that has an effect on people. They might not want to stick around after that happens.
And so we lost a lot of folks and that’s rebuilding now, but great opportunities there. It reminds me actually of opportunities back in the late 90s, or late 70s for those of you that have been around as long as I am. I’m pretty ancient. So I’ve seen three booms now in Fort McMurray. And this reminds me a lot of 2000, 2001 when I just finished building a car wash up in Fort McMurray and I got to see 10 years of substantial growth. So there’s tremendous opportunities right now right across Alberta, whether it be in Lac La Biche or Smokey Lake or Cold Lake, which has a ton of military opportunities there too.
So Alberta’s a very exciting place to be. Whether you’re producing natural gas or oil, it’s the most competitive jurisdiction I think in the world, or it’s going to be soon, hopefully, especially in relation to cost of production and cost of supply. We’re not going to find any jurisdictions with cheaper gas. So I think whether it be manufacturing, whether it be selling our products, whether it be sending data instead of gas overseas to take advantage of our liquid gases, I think there’s just so many opportunities right now and people are excited about it.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. And there’s some capacity to grow, even in places like Fort McMurray. Now the Alberta government has a pretty aggressive goal, talking about wanting to reach eight million barrels a day of oil production for Alberta by 2035. And just as a reminder to everyone, we’re currently at around five million barrels a day, just the Alberta province. So tell us a bit about that goal. How doable do you think that goal is at this point?
Brian Jean:
Well, if it was easy, everybody would do it. It’s not easy, but it can be done and we just have to put our minds together. I was talking about trust earlier on today with the federal government trust between the federal government and the province, and we’ve got a lot there. I mean, we’re synchronized, we’re focused on the same things, and it’s really good to see after so long.
But there has to be trust between business and government as well. And in order to be able to do what we need to do, we need to be able to sit down with industry and say, “Okay, where can we tweak this or move this pipe over here?” Or, “How do we get more capacity here? And if we put this over here, can we do more there? If we allow you to change those pumps or those compressors, can we get more flow? Can we use an agent that will increase lubrication and therefore flow and capacity?” We’re looking at all of those opportunities and sitting down with industry. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to do it.
Six million barrels a day by 2030, yes. Eight million barrels by 2035, a little bit tougher, but we think we can do it. And right now we have a federal government that is very much aligned with us and we have a government in BC and Saskatchewan that are very closely aligned with us as well. So we think that all the stars are aligned in the right direction and we’re going to get a lot of pipes in the ground, a lot of product to market.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Well, we’ll talk a little bit about those pipes and BC for sure. But I just, from my perspective, one of the issues was demand for crude. And I feel like with this disruption with the Strait of Hormuz closure that people are looking to places like Canada more than ever for stable sources supply. How have your conversations been changing and is your phone ringing off the hook with people that want to buy Alberta oil?
Brian Jean:
I made the mistake of putting my business card, my phone number on my business card, and yes, it is ringing off the hook. And there are people, whether it’s the deputy minister, the equivalent of the deputy minister of the economy in Germany, whether it’s the Netherlands or whether it’s the EU commissioner, whether it’s people from Korea or Japan, companies or government, people are interested in our products. And maybe not everybody is interested in oil, although they should be, but they’re interested in everything else. They’re interested in lithium and titanium and natural gas especially, liquid LNG, of course. So I mean, we have products that can suit just about every need and we’re excited about that opportunity.
Now, I will say that we’re strategically looking at those partnerships. We’re not just partnering with anybody. We’re looking for long-term, stable, off-take agreements. We’ve now passed what is called BRIK and GRIK, which is bitumen royalties in kind and natural gas royalties in kind. And we’ve been doing it with conventional oil for years and we’ve been doing it effectively, and it’s voluntary, as it should be. But what we’re hoping is that we’re going to be able to see more egress opportunities and be able to direct our barrels to those areas in cooperation with the companies so that we get more opportunities for more pipelines and more egress. And maybe we have to leverage our volumes to be able to confirm that long-term opportunity for those energy companies, pipeline companies in particular.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Well, let’s talk about that in a little more detail. So you really, instead of getting royalties, you’re going to actually get physical barrels and then you could use those barrels to underpin the development of a new pipeline because for a new pipeline to go forward, the traditional way is we need to have barrels that are pledged to it so that you build it, but you know it will be full for 20 years or something like that so you can get a return on that initial investment. Are you saying that when we think about maybe this MOU and the potential for this pipeline to Asia off the West Coast that the Alberta government now could use some of your own barrels to underpin the development of that project?
Brian Jean:
Absolutely we could, but it doesn’t look like we’re going to have to. I mean, in proponents, you take a few months to find the first proponent and now they’re popping out of the woodwork. So we have a lot of people that want to invest in this pipeline and other pipelines to the West Coast. In my mind, a lot of people were nervous over the past few years because Canada didn’t look like it could get anything built and now they’re looking very optimistically towards the reality that we are getting things built and we’re doing it faster than we’ve ever done it in probably 40 years.
Jackie Forrest:
And are these proponents the traditional ones that we think of, like the big pipeline companies? Are they national oil companies, or is it a really different mix than what we’ve seen in the past in terms of investment?
Brian Jean:
The more you get into energy, from my perspective and see it sort of from the government’s perspective, you recognize that not everybody wants pipes in all directions all the time because they have certain economic conditions that are really favorable for them and their shareholders. So no, it doesn’t include all the pipeline proponents, all the traditional ones, although they are included and we do rely on their expertise a lot. The truth is the people that are popping forward are companies from overseas, Fortune 500 companies that are in pipeline businesses or pipe businesses, and also national governments that are interested in the opportunity to be able to see long-term off-take agreements because of the interruption of supply right now.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. So a different cast of characters maybe than what we’re used to.
Brian Jean:
Totally different than it’s ever been before and that’s the truth, different than I’ve ever dealt with.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. So the MOU, of course we had the initial announcement in November and then we had this update in the middle of May, the implementation agreement, and included some more details around carbon pricing. But importantly, it also gave an update about this carbon capture storage project in the oil sands and that it seems that the project needs to go forward for the pipeline to go forward and the pipeline is supposed to be put to the Major Projects Office on Canada Day, which is not very long away now. So what can you tell us about the Oil Sands Alliance Pathway Carbon Capture Storage Project? Where are you at with that, and is that going to have to be agreed to before we see this oil pipeline be submitted to the Major Projects Office?
Brian Jean:
I would say to your last question, yes, but remember where we started. First of all, the Oil Sands Pathways came to the public for Canada and said, “Listen, we’re going to do this major carbon capture pipeline sequestration thing and we’re going to look at,” I think it was 50 megatons at the start. And then from there to here, let’s think about where we are, and this is a negotiation. The federal government has jurisdiction on some, we have jurisdiction on some.
So we’ve had to negotiate, but the federal government first of all for the first time in a long time is looking at competitiveness as one of the major issues driving it. So we’ve been able to go from 50 megatons down to six megatons. We’ve gone from a place where the industry is going to pay all of it to where industry is going to pay about 20, 30%, maybe a little bit more than that, give or take, depending on where the agreement ends up, but government is going to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of 70%.
I think industry is in a very good position, and we recognize that carbon pricing and carbon is not a money making business. But the federal government wants to position us very clearly in that sweet spot for Korea and Japan and Europe on carbon price, on the carbon equivalency agreements that are right now not active, but they expect they will be active in the future, especially once Trump is gone from his current administration. That will be a game changer, and will carbon then come back into the forefront of every discussion? Well, the federal government thinks it will and they’re prepared to take a little gamble to do that.
And from my perspective, I get a new pipeline from Cold Lake up to Fort McKay, and I love pipelines and pipelines can be used for a lot of things other than carbon. They can be used for water and for oil and for gas, and they have to be repurposed, but pipelines are good. And I think this particular pipeline, we’ll see how it goes and how the world’s demand is on carbon and carbon oil opportunities, but clearly the federal government’s committed to it, Pathways was committed to it, and I think the world in the future will expect it.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Let’s talk about that carbon pricing. Now, the carbon pricing that came out on May 15th is softened compared to the original regime, pushed back another 10 years and the stringency is less, but yet some people in industry say it’s still too expensive, especially considering that US has no comparable policy and no one’s really paying you premium if you have a cleaner barrel. What do you say to that concern?
Brian Jean:
Well, the best price on carbon is no price, is zero. There’s no question. But this was a negotiation and we need to get pipelines to market. We need to get product to market. And governments change. I think the nice part about it is this government is on this far side of the spectrum and so this is the worst it can be, I’m hoping. I’m hoping we see it go back to another government which might say carbon pricing should be zero. And that’s of course a decision for the federal government.
They’re in charge of that bailiwick, though, and we’re able to negotiate and we did. We’ve negotiated on methane and we think we’re in a very good position there. We’ve negotiated on clean electricity regulations. We’re in a very good position there, much better than we were. And this MOU is about all of those things, not just an oil pipeline and a pathway pipeline.
So sometimes there’s give and take and we’re hoping that competitiveness drives the agenda, and we believe with this one, the total six megaton will cost about somewhere under $10 billion and industry is on the hook for probably three to five of that. And if you look at that over an eight year period, per company, it’s minuscule. It’s not nothing, but it’s not as big as driving them out of business, and we’ll see how the market reacts to it and maybe we will get a premium for our product. Right now we’re not going to, but maybe sometime.
Jackie Forrest:
You have more time to prepare for that. You mentioned the clean electricity reg that was in there. I felt like it was a bit of a change in message from November, when we were told that it would be suspended, to now it’s going to go through the court system and if it’s found to be constitutional that Alberta would need a similar policy, an equivalent policy. Can you explain why that change?
Brian Jean:
Well, I can’t really explain why it changed except to say agreements to agree are always about getting to that final position. I will say as a former recovering litigator, I think it’s great that we get to the court and get to the right answer so we can make a decision on where to go. Industry needs certainty. I have a policy in my office in that nothing on my desk sits for longer than two hours without me signing it to give it a decision, even if it’s a no, which it’s not usually a no, it’s usually a yes, but, or if they change this, because I like to get things done so there’s certainty and predictability in industry and they know that if they put an application in, it’s going to be done in a timely manner. That’s why we’re doing the 120 day accelerated timeline on major projects, is those kind of things to change the culture of the AER and other regulators to make things faster and more predictable and more certain.
And so Alberta and Canada should be the best place in the world to invest, and especially, I mean, let’s face it, if we have this carbon pricing, in order to make businesses profitable, we have to take less of a niche of royalties or we have to take less taxes because otherwise we’re going to drive them out. So we recognize, I recognize that if we’re going to take it from you and your competitiveness with other industry players around the world, we have to be prepared to come to the table and take less too. And I see it’s inevitable if we’re going to be competitive.
Jackie Forrest:
Actually, it’s worth just talking about that 120 day review. So also as part of the MOU, there was an agreement where Alberta would take the lead on environmental reviews. So could you foresee a situation where greenfield oil sands projects comes forward? A big one. We haven’t had one of those in ok, and it would take 120 days to get the regulatory approval. Would it fit into that?
Brian Jean:
It certainly would fit in that. Remember, we’re not reinventing the wheel. We’ve had other greenfield and oil sands projects before. So the AER knows what they’re doing. They’re very competent on it, and notwithstanding. Some folks may not recognize it, but the AER is a world-class regulator. They’re the best in the world and they’re getting better, and we put some things in to truly make it better. We do believe there’s a couple of greenfield opportunities right now in the oil sands. We have two right now that we’re talking to and we’re dealing with. Hopefully we’ll see those projects go ahead.
We have some open pit opportunities in coal. I know we’re not here to talk about coal, but I love coal. I think carbon nuggets are a great form of energy as well. I think that we have to look at what the demand is on these products. Whether it’s metallurgical coal or whether it’s oil and gas, I mean, there’s a huge demand for it and we take it out of the planet better than anybody else does and reclaim it afterwards. So let’s make sure that more stuff comes from Alberta than any other jurisdiction and we’ll make sure we have a better world. And frankly, the money that comes from the sale of our oil goes to the people of Alberta and the people of Canada and builds all those wonderful things that we like, like schools and hospitals.
Jackie Forrest:
Right. Well, cool. That’s a new one for me. So we’ll learn more about that as-
Brian Jean:
And if you have the SAGD application that’s pending right now, please go back to the AER and get it going and we’ll get that 120 days going. So we have about, I think just over 50 applications for SAGD in between Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray, and folks have held off on those applications, but we’re ready to get those going and we can get those going in 120 days.
Jackie Forrest:
Now, one of the risks was the federal government had this stamp of approval at the end and they’re talking about moving that to the front. So is that a concern for putting forward an oil sands project, that the federal government may still say, “We don’t want that?”
Brian Jean:
No, I don’t think so. These two oil sands greenfield projects that are opportunities both involve indigenous partnerships. So I think with that, there’s going to be a lot less expectation of lengthy delays for no reason. I think we’re going to see people, whether the indigenous component is in pipelines or greenfield or SAGD or brownfield or rail or whatever it may be, I think that has been the big stumbling block and the biggest hurdle holding us back in 22 years of politics that I’ve been in there. And with them being as partners and players, it’s gone, and I think it is.
Jackie Forrest:
All right. Well, let’s come back to that pipeline. You mentioned BC. So the MOU talks about these trilateral talks between Alberta, the federal government, and BC. Tell us about those discussions. I mean, I don’t get a sense that Premier Eby is on board with this pipeline, from what I read in the press.
Brian Jean:
Well, that’s probably a good thing it’s not his decision then. He’s got his own pressures internally and we’ll see how that turns out, but usually when you get pressure from the right, you move to the right, and we’ll see how that goes. I would say I’ve had some very good conversations with Minister Dix. I just had a roundtable with him and we were exchanging barbs. He wants some things, we want some things, and that’s what confederation is about, is compromise and getting along.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Well, that’s hopeful that you’re having these conversations anyway.
Brian Jean:
And truly, can I just say that he’s got to serve his public and his public wants a pipeline. The very few people are against pipelines down BC.
Jackie Forrest:
And with your legal background, can you comment a little bit? There was a court decision on-
Brian Jean:
I can’t give you any legal advice. I’m on leave with the law society. Only lawyers would figure that funny one out.
Jackie Forrest:
People do say that because of the decision made on Trans Mountain that the BC can’t stop a pipeline from going through. Is that a case in your view?
Brian Jean:
Well, they can’t stop it. They can make it difficult, but why would they do that when the First Nations on the coast want it? Why would they do that when the First Nations inside want it? That’s been the biggest hold up in production and development in BC, and Minister Dix told me that. So if we get them on side, why would they have an issue with it?
I mean, I think that’s what it’s about. Sometimes you have to be led to the altar and forced to come to the table and sometimes that’s in their best interest, not necessarily the group’s best interest. But his base doesn’t want an oil pipeline. And if you go to Vancouver Island, you can see the No LNG signs. They think differently. But the truth is, it’s a good thing it’s not his decision.
Jackie Forrest:
Well, let’s talk about the indigenous communities and local communities, especially when we talk about this northern route. There’s a perception that there isn’t a lot of support from indigenous communities. You say that there is support. So is that something that’s in the media that maybe doesn’t represent how people feel?
Brian Jean:
There are some groups that don’t support it, but most of the First Nations or a good portion of the First Nations do. So there’s different indigenous groups and some don’t necessarily represent the ones that are in the path or on the water. The economic benefits, maybe in the past people would come and sell their wares and give trinkets. That doesn’t happen, not anymore. So these folks are going to have life changing money.
Jackie Forrest:
Right. So the conversations you’ve had with people that actually get economic benefits, you do see that support?
Brian Jean:
They want us to come there and they want us to talk to them. I’ve had phone calls with them. They’re very positive. There are some folks that aren’t in favor, but most of the time we find that those folks, like the folks in Fort McMurray, where I grew up, just want a piece of the pie. They want to be heard and they want to be a partner. Seems reasonable.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. So those conversations were started, which is-
Brian Jean:
Oh, the conversations have been going from before we announced this.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Let’s talk about, there’s several new pipeline projects. One to the US has been proposed, another greenfield project. It’s kind of a revitalization of part of the KXL or Keystone XL pipeline. How do you view those? Do you view those as competing with this Alberta West Coast export pipeline? I mean, there’s only so much oil and you did admit that it might be hard to grow oil too quickly.
Brian Jean:
Yeah, 177 billion barrels. It’s going to take a while. We have a lot of oil, unlimited amount truly in the oil sands, 167 billion barrels there, a proven resource. So it’s about getting egress out, but demand is there as well. The demand in Asia is two, three million barrels a day over what we have right now.
So I like pipelines in every single direction. It’s true that sometimes pipelines in some directions help better than others. I like getting heavy oil off the North American continent. It helps with the differential. So if we can change that a bit, it would be a good thing. If we get a pipeline to the coast or two or three pipelines to the coast with a lower tolling fee, we would be more competitive and bring more money back to the people in Alberta and likewise for the people in British Columbia and Canada.
So sure, my hope would be to put a couple of pipelines to the West Coast tomorrow. I think that’s fairly unrealistic, but as we go forward, we will need pipelines in every direction. And the US pipeline went to open season and it filled up pretty quickly, and as you probably noticed, the government of Alberta, notwithstanding it could, didn’t have to backstop any of that. So there’s still the demand there, and those are big numbers. I mean, when people talk about a pipeline of 300,000 barrels or 500,000 barrels, that’s a big number that people have to commit to. That’s a serious investment, which means people have thought well in advance to it and planned out the contingencies and think they can make money on it.
Jackie Forrest:
Yeah. So that shows that support from the producers, which is really important. All right. Well, your title is Energy and Minerals. Maybe you could tell us quickly about the critical minerals that you’re working on. I know that lithium, I think is one of them. What do you see Alberta’s advantage is in minerals?
Brian Jean:
The people, innovation, creativity, R&D. We’re really, really ahead on that stuff. And that’s why critical minerals and lithium has a chance. So we could have the third largest lithium deposit in the world and one of the lowest cost opportunities, way lower costs than rock hosted lithium, for instance. Depends on the technology and how well it does, but we think there’s a good opportunity there and we’re well advanced in that technology opportunity.
And there are two technologies right now that are underplaying Western Canada, one volt and one E3 lithium, which is like a standalone factory, but both have opportunities, and if they take off, that’s great. Helium, we aren’t even in the helium business really in Alberta and yet it’s a tremendous opportunity. Saskatchewan’s there and we should be taking more advantage of that. We have critical minerals up in Northern Alberta in the black shales that have not even started to be exploited yet, and I think everyone in the US’s name is up there and that’s in the industrial complex just north of Fort McMurray.
In the tailings ponds, for 40 years we could supply 20% of the current demand of titanium from what’s in the existing tailings ponds in the oil sands. We have other critical minerals in there as well. Now it takes extraction technologies, but we’re really good at that and we’ve done a great job in the oil and gas sector with that technology advantage. And I think we can do the same thing with titanium. We have a lot of companies right now that are trying to get into the tailings ponds and trying to get samples out so they can use their technology to extract those resources. We have the largest manmade object in the world, sulfur, in unbelievable supplies in Northern Alberta that doesn’t have rail. That’s an opportunity that we should be talking about too as an industry and government, is how do we get the end of rail stuff in there that we need to be able to take these resources to market?
But there’s so many different things that we can do for the critical mineral opportunities, and I think the biggest thing that the future will hold for Alberta is we’re actually offering a smelter valley, and I made this offer yesterday to the New Zealand high commissioner and she was very curious because right now they’re not building smelters anywhere in the world and I think the US hasn’t had one built in 40 years or so. They’re trying to build one now.
And so what we’re doing is setting aside a track of land that we would maintain control of as the province. It would be just outside of the industrial heartland so it would have a very quick application process and we would control, we’d make sure it’s in the right place for the airshed and water and for rail and for high speed fiber and for hydroelectricity and for natural gas, so it would have all of the things it needs, including rail. And we’ve got the spot pretty much located and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to talk to other people and set up a smelter valley so people can come there, not have the long-term liability of the land, set up the smelter, and have long-term off-take agreements.
Share it for instance, in the industrial heartland, they smelter nickel from Cuba and we think with our low cost energy, we can do exactly the same thing and especially if we’re prepared to control the airshed, manage liability for directors and owners of companies and shareholders so there’s no long-term liability on smelters or upgrading polishing or finishing products, and the Alberta government would continue to have a hand in it so that we’d make sure we manage the pollution, I would say.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Yeah, we’ll get to that. China’s really got the lock hold on standard processing and things like that. So I know there’s-
Brian Jean:
But freeland might convince people to come up, and the fact that our democracy doesn’t get taken out very often.
Jackie Forrest:
All right, well, we’re just running out of time here. Quickly, we talked a lot about oil. Often the natural gas opportunity is framed as an opportunity for BC. Do you see that as an opportunity for Alberta as well?
Brian Jean:
Absolutely. Slims is taking I think 50 or 60% Alberta natural gas once it’s up and running. But if LNG starts exporting off the West Coast, that means we have more of our natural gas and more demand going south. So it’s a great thing for BC and we encourage it.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. And finally, I want to wrap up with this question of separation. So we’ve got lots of people coming to Alberta for this big energy show this week. I understand a big international contingent coming, and I think they’re going to be really excited about some of these opportunities that you’re talking about, whether it be for oil and gas or lithium and we didn’t even get to AI, but for people not in the province and maybe people in other parts of Canada too, they may wonder about the questions that Alberta’s having around separation matters this fall and what that means in terms of risk for investing in the province. What would you say to the people that are concerned about separation and say, “Well, I don’t really want to invest in Alberta if this thing is hanging over the province.”
Brian Jean:
Well, I think those people need to look at our geography. We’re in the middle of Canada, in the middle of the United States, in the middle of North America. We’re not going anywhere. We’re in the middle of the most stable two economies in the planet. First of all, I don’t think they’re going to be successful, but they deserve a voice and they deserve to be respected. And there has been some issues. If there wasn’t some issues, we wouldn’t have this MOU.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. So do you feel like by having the vote, it kind of gets rid of some of that risk?
Brian Jean:
I think so, but also the MOU does a lot as does other agreements with the federal government. But Quebec had a referendum. Alberta is going to have a referendum to have a referendum. I’m not sure that it’s going to even pass to that point. So my perspective is there’s no better place in the world to invest than Alberta. Even if for goodness sakes this happened, which I don’t think there’s a sliver of chance to happen in my lifetime, it’s still the safest jurisdiction on the planet to invest in compared to other jurisdictions. There’s just no way.
We believe in the rule of law. We have a Torrens system of land. We have one of the best regulatory systems on the planet, and the people’s complaint, they want more of that. They want more oil to the coast. They want more natural resources to the coast. Those are the separatists. They’re upset that we’re not getting our products to market. So as we do that, they’ll be less upset.
Jackie Forrest:
Okay. Well, thank you, Honorable Brian Jean, Minister of Energy and Minerals, for spending some time with us. I know this is a busy week for you. Lots going on and a lot of exciting projects that you’re pushing forward. So thank you for your leadership.
Brian Jean:
My pleasure. And if you are looking at data center investment, there’s no jurisdiction in the world better than Alberta to do it in.
Jackie Forrest:
Thank you.
Well, Peter, it was a great opportunity to hear Minister Jean’s perspective, especially at this time when Alberta has all of these goals in terms of production growth, pipelines, changing policy. So really consequential time in the province and great to hear his perspectives.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, it is a critical juncture for this country. The major projects that are all underway, many of them are energy related. It’s not just oil pipeline. There’s LNG, there’s hydro, there’s power lines, you name it. So energy is very much topical and it’s also the dominant royalty and tax generator in this country. So yeah, it was good to hear the minister’s perspective.
Jackie Forrest:
With that, I want to thank the audience. If you like this podcast, please rate us on the app that you listen to and tell someone else about us.
Announcer:
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