Sturgeon County’s mayor says she’s confident a proposed Pembina plastics plant will go ahead despite the company putting it on ice last month due to COVID-19.
Pembina Pipeline announced March 18 that it was deferring its proposed $2.7 billion investment into a $4.5-billion integrated propane dehydrogenation plant and polypropylene upgrading facility in Sturgeon County.
The plant, a joint venture with the Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait, is supposed to turn up to 3,000 barrels of propane per day from local sources into about 550,000 tonnes of polypropylene pellets per year for shipment across the continent by rail once built by 2023. The province has estimated that the project would create 3,000 construction and 200 full-time jobs, while Sturgeon County has predicted that it would add up to $17 million a year to its tax coffers.
The plant was one of four major capital projects paused by Pembina as part of a $1.1-billion cut to its 2020 capital plan made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and significant declines in world energy prices, the company said in a press release.
“Pembina’s business is resilient and remains strong in the face of these current challenges,” said company chief financial officer Scott Burrows, and the company had financial guardrails in place to preserve its balance sheet and fund ongoing operations.
Sturgeon County Mayor Alanna Hnatiw said Pembina’s decision was understandable, and that any company making billion-dollar investments would be hitting pause on them to some degree under today’s circumstances. Still, plastics are an important building block of the economy, and she is confident that this project would go forward.
“Pembina has always been a great partner and a very sound business, and I have faith that when it’s safe to do so they will continue the project,” Hnatiw said.
