Federal oil and gas emissions cap another 'burden' on Sask. energy industry, premier says

Mere moments after details surrounding Ottawa’s planned cap on oil and gas emissions were revealed, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said Thursday’s announcement by the federal government is another burden on the province’s economy.

On Thursday federal Finance Minister Steven Guilbeault said Canada’s oil and gas industry will be required to cut more than one-third of its emissions by 2030.

The new framework says emissions will need to be reduced 35 to 38 per cent below 2019 levels.

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Contributing to a decarbonization fund or purchasing offset credits can decrease that requirement as low as 20 to 23 per cent.

Moe, who is still in Dubai for the COP28 conference, said while Saskatchewan and Canadian oil and gas producers have been in the middle-eastern country showing the world their potential, the federal government has spent the same time implementing more policies that will hobble a highly sustainable energy industry.

“Instead of taking the opportunity to promote Canada’s sustainable oil and gas industry on the world stage as Saskatchewan is doing, the federal government’s response has been to impose two new policies just this week, on methane and an oil and gas cap that target this sector and burden it with more red tape and regulations,” Moe said in his statement.

Guilbeault said the new cap is both sustainable and critical to lowering emissions from Canada’s most carbon-intensive sector.

Bodywork outlining the planned cap is being made public on Thursday with plans to publish draft regulations in the spring and have final regulations in place in 2025.

According to Moe, Saskatchewan has already taken significant steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Moe said that includes reducing methane emissions by 64 per cent since 2015, installing the first operational carbon capture and storage system in the world at Boundary Dam Power Station in 2014, and investing billions of dollars in renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, biomass, and natural gas generation.

-- With files from The Canadian Press.