Adviser touts economic benefits of pipeline

Gary Park

The Alberta-based petroleum industry has been urged to spread the word across Canada about the substantial economic benefits of a stand-alone Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline.

Robert Marshall, a senior pipeline adviser to the Alberta government, said the strong support from the North needs to be expanded into “support from the rest of Canada.”

He told the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta the project would result in direct investment of C$8.3 billion (US$5.2 billion), mostly concentrated in the 2004-2006 period, although direct investment spending would extend through to 2029, stemming from long-range field development required in the Mackenzie Delta.

Marshall said the Northwest Territories, with its limited population of about 40,000, would “need a lot of help” in the provision of goods and services related to pipeline development, construction and operation.

A pipeline would open up alternative delivery means for Alberta E&P companies as well as providing natural gas liquids as feedstock for the province’s petrochemical sector.

A study by Calgary-based Wright Mansell Research Ltd., presented by TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. to the Canadian government, calculated a Mackenzie Valley pipeline would pump C$1.28 billion into Alberta’s Gross Domestic Product from 2002 to 2034.

The single largest item of C$434 million would occur during pipeline construction.

In addition, the study said the project would contribute C$849 million in wages to Alberta laborers and C$100 million to Alberta government revenues over a 32-year span.

For all of Canada, Wright Mansell said GDP would grow by C$40.8 billion to C$77 billion, labor income would gain C$8.2 billion and federal government revenues would grow between C$6.1 billion and C$24.2 billion.

Jobs, Marshall said, would be spread through a multitude of sectors in Canada, including pipelines, oil and gas production services, manufacturing, construction, transportation, utilities, communications, wholesale and retail trade and business services.