Albertans Could Realize More Value from Resources as Alberta Government Seeks Industry Interest in Refining

CALGARY, Dec.12, 2018 /CNW/ - Expanding the capacity of Alberta's refining and upgrading sector has long been a focus of the Resource Diversification Council (RDC). Alberta's bitumen has been netting record low prices due to oversupply. The opportunity to refine this low value feedstock into much higher value end products like gasoline and diesel could mean millions of dollars in revenue for the province and thousands of high paying jobs.

The Resource Diversification Council (RDC) commends the Alberta government for its continued focus on ensuring that Albertans get the full value for their resources. Since the inception of the RDC, the association has advocated for expanding the capabilities of Alberta's resource sector through diversification and refining and upgrading Alberta resources in the province.

RDC members have over 20 billion dollars in proposed projects, which would refine or upgrade Alberta's abundant resources such as natural gas, natural gas liquids and bitumen. If these projects were built in Alberta, they would generate billions of dollars for our municipalities, province and country, as well as  create thousands of jobs. It is estimated that over their operating lifetimes, these projects would add 56 billion dollars to Alberta and Canada's GDP. During construction these projects are expected to add approximately 42,000 direct full time positions, followed by thousands of long-term high-quality direct and indirect jobs to operate these facilities. The economic activity generated by a new facility ? no matter where in Alberta it is located ? provides significant benefits across our province and country.  

"Large industrial value-add energy investments help provide economic resilience and diversification, and create highly skilled, well-paying jobs for decades," said David Chappell, Chair of RDC. "There is significant international competition for projects and for Alberta to compete, government and industry must work together. It is encouraging to see the Government of Alberta continue to provide signals that should help attract investors."

About the Resource Diversification Council
The Resource Diversification Council is a non-profit association that is dedicated to realizing the full potential of Alberta's natural resources by expanding and diversifying our resource manufacturing industries. We support diversification by helping develop policies and frameworks that encourage further development of the petrochemical and hydrocarbon processing sectors. We represent a broad range of Alberta's economy. RDC members are comprised of industry leaders and senior executives of organizations who share a mutual interest in advancing Alberta's energy resource value added sector. RDC members include Nutrien, Keyera, NOVA Chemicals, NW Refining, Inter Pipeline, Methanex, Construction Labour Relations - Alberta, Pembina Pipelines, The Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, Stantec, Bantrel, NAIT and Titanium.

SOURCE Resource Diversification Council