WEYBURN – Premier Scott Moe was bullish — a word he used repeatedly — about the prospects for oil and gas and other industries in the province.
Moe spoke during the noon hour luncheon at the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn before an audience full of attendees from the oil and gas industry.
But he made clear that talks with the federal government on energy — similar to what had just taken place with Alberta — would be key to the future prospects for the province.
“This is our moment in this province,” Moe told the audience. “This is our moment to advance our economy beyond what we ever dreamt it could have been 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago. This is our moment to say $60 billion of investment in our province isn't an anomaly, it isn't a once-in-a-lifetime chance, it's actually the new normal.”
But Moe pointed to government decision-making as key to making that happen.
“If we as a province and a nation get the next number of decisions right, six to 10 decisions, I would say that we see in Canada today, the three largest infrastructure projects in Canada today, of those three, two are happening in this province where we live. The first is the energy project on the coast, the West Coast. The second is at the Johnson Potash Mine in Saskatchewan, and the third is a data centre south of Regina.
“What can happen if we as provincial and national governments get the next 10 decisions right is the investment that will flow into our energy industry is going to dwarf all three of those projects by significant, significant tens and twenty and hundreds of billions of dollars. We have an opportunity to take our oil production from what it is today to something far beyond what we even ever thought it could be.”
Moe also said Saskatchewan “should not take a back seat in that conversation.”
“We should be very bullish in that conversation, because if your concern is access to energy security, we can provide it. If your concern is how is that energy produced, we produce the most sustainable oil that you can find on this very planet. If your concern is how is that product produced from an ethical perspective, we produce the most ethical, the most ethical energy product that you can find on earth. And we should be very proud and we should be very, very bullish of what we do.”
Premier Moe in particular pointed to the recent negotiations that took place between the federal government and Alberta which resulted in an MOU signing, including agreement on future carbon pricing levels.
Moe acknowledged it was now “Saskatchewan's turn to engage on what the future of our energy industry is going to look like.”
“And know this, and know this very well. It is going to be a provincial government that is going to be at those negotiating tables, guided by the very people in this room, guided by the industries that are employing people in this community, this part of the province and across the province of Saskatchewan, and we are going to do our level best to land in a place that is going to allow that investment to flow and allow those drilling rigs to get back to work in a way that they never have in recent history and allow us to be very proud of an industry that has created wealth for us as a province for so many years now, allow the opportunity for that industry to continue to create wealth for our children and for our grandchildren for generations to come.”
If they get those decisions right, Moe said, it is “going to be this province and this part of the nation that is going to allow any Prime Minister to stand up and say ‘we have the strongest economy in the G7 nations, and we are an energy superpower.’ But we need to get those decisions right, and we're going to ensure that we find our way to that.”
In speaking to reporters afterwards Moe spoke about some of what he was hearing from those in attendance. He said “future opportunities” were on the minds of those in the room, and pointed to the MOU between the federal government and Alberta.
“You know, we're seeing advancements with a memorandum of understanding between the federal government in Alberta and how that could, you know, transpose or work in Saskatchewan. We would have to see some, you know, modifications to that agreement to really allow us to expand the energy industry here in Saskatchewan. We think we do have a few hundred thousand barrels of oil that can come on and be made available to the world, to Asian countries as well as, yes, the United States of America in a very, very short term.”
Moe said they would be doing that work with the federal government, but would be taking guidance from the industry as well, because “what we see happening is an agreement between the federal government and the province.”
Moe adds that the “true testament to the success of that agreement is are we going to be able to see the investment flow into adding barrels to the production levels that we have today. Should we see that investment flow? Should we see that production increase? Then I would say that we're getting to a good place, a better place from a regulatory perspective and that's going to be our goal is to try to land in a position where we can attract that investment, add to our production levels, our daily production levels, create jobs, create opportunity and, yes, become an energy superpower and add to that economic strength, ultimately help the Prime Minister's aspiration to get to the strongest economy in the G7 nations.”
As for how Saskatchewan could become an energy superpower, Moe was asked about how Saskatchewan could hit a target of 600,000 barrels by 2030, after being flat at 450,000 barrels for a while.
Where that extra 150,000 would come from, Moe said, was through “expansion of the existing energy, innovation, as well as maybe some opportunities that we may have for expansion out of what is already currently producing spaces, all the while not shutting in any of the existing production we have.”
“Herein lies some of the challenging conversations from a regulatory perspective, whether it be around the price of carbon taxation, whether it be around clean fuel standards or whether it be around some of the methane regulations as well. All part of that memorandum of understanding agreement between the federal government and the province of Alberta.”
Moe told reporters Saskatchewan has “a different energy industry than Alberta.”
“We don't have the oil sands to offer. We have thermal sites on the west side and we have the traditional oil production down through here that is some of the most sustainable that you can find on earth. I point to some of the enhanced oil recovery that is using carbon capture utilization to produce that.
We have an opportunity to meet not only that target but go beyond it, but the next six or ten decisions that we can come to agreement with between the provincial government, the federal government and the industry, I think are imperative for us to achieve the goals that we have set out in that plan for growth a number of years ago, but also the goals I think that the Prime Minister set out in becoming an energy superpower, a global energy superpower and achieving the strongest economy in the G7. If we're going to do that, it is going to be the energy industry that drives that.”
