Inter Pipeline receives grant for Alberta integrated PDH-PP complex
The government of Alberta has approved a C$408-million grant under its Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP) to support Calgary-based Inter Pipeline Ltd’s Heartland Petrochemical Complex (HPC) – Canada’s first integrated propane dehydrogenation (PDH) and polypropylene (PP) complex – now under construction in Strathcona County, Alberta.
Inter Pipeline will receive the cash grant in equal instalments over three years once the HPC reaches start-up and becomes operational, which currently is scheduled for 2022, Inter Pipeline said on the 5th April.
Inter Pipeline, which was previously approved to receive US$200 million of royalty credits for the HPC’s PDH plant under Alberta’s Petrochemicals Diversification Program, said it has resigned these credits in favour of the larger APIP grant.
Introduced by the Albertan government to attract investment into development of petrochemical production in the province, the APIP is aimed at taking advantage of growing global demand for petrochemicals by creating a competitive, investor-friendly business environment to encourage use of Alberta’s abundant natural gas reserves and help diversify the provincial economy.
The grant to Inter Pipeline is the first awarded under the APIP, according to Dale Nally, Alberta’s associate minister of natural gas and electricity.
“Projects like [Inter Pipeline’s HPC] are exactly what the province needs to become a global [centre] of excellence in the growing petrochemical sector,” Mr Nally said.
Complex overview
Formally started in December 2017, the HPC is under construction near Inter Pipeline’s Redwater Olefinic Fractionator (ROF) – which has a capacity to fractionate about 40,000 b/d of ethane-plus mixture – and will include an integrated PDH and PP plant designed to convert 22,000 b/d of locally sourced propane feedstock from ROF and several other third-party fractionators in the region into 525,000 tonnes/year of polymer-grade PP mostly for sale to the US.
In its February 2021 presentation to investors, Inter Pipeline said the now US$4-billion HPC is scheduled to be mechanically completed in 2021, with the PDH plant to be completed in May 2021 and the PP plant to follow by year-end.
Anticipated in-service of the entire HPC project remains early 2022, according to the operator.
Construction of HPC has remained ongoing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic despite safety and logistical challenges created by the health crisis largely due to Inter Pipeline and its partners’ focus on protecting the health, safety, and wellbeing of workers, as well the project’s focus on contracting its workforce and procuring materials locally.
Source: Oil & Gas Journal