Mackenzie Pipeline $16-billion magaproject halted again

The long-awaited Mackenzie Valley pipeline project hit another major snag last week. On Thursday, April 5, the consortium led by Imperial Oil that is proposing to build the $16.2-billion megaproject for almost 1,200 kilometres through Alberta, said that the project was being cut back.  However, according to a Reuters report,  the consortium’s spokesperson said the project is still “not dead.”

The consortium will be closing offices in Fort Simpson and Norman Wells which are on the pipeline route and will be reducing the size of an office in Inuvik, near the Mackenzie Delta. The consortium blames low natural gas prices, but it also wants to secure government incentives for the project.

A similar project to develop natural gas reserves on Alaska’s North Slope has received $500 million incentives from the State of Alaska, according to CBC reports.

First proposed in the 1970s, the enormous Mackenzie pipeline received federal approval in 2011 after a seven-year environmental review. Under the terms of that approval, the promotors have been given to the end of 2013 to decide whether to proceed.

The pipeline would bring gas from the Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta through a pipeline system that would cross four Aboriginal regions, including the Deh Cho Territory.

Besides Imperial Oil, the other partners in the consortium are ConocoPhillips, Shell Canada, Exxon Mobil and the Aboriginal Pipeline Group.