Alberta’s oilpatch receives rare prize – US-backed $ 22 billion export route to Tidewater via Alaska

Good morning!

It may be the last few weeks of his tenure (at least according to the general election), but US President Donald Trump has rewarded oil producers in Alberta.

Amid growing conspiracy theory tweets over the weekend, he aired further presidential tweets on Friday: “Based on the strong recommendation of enSenDanSullivan and the rerepdonyoung of the great state of Alaska, I would like to inform you that I would like to inform you that the Presidential Permits for the A2A Cross Border Train between Alaska & Canada. Congratulations to the people of Alaska & Canada! ”

Don Sullivan is a U.S. senator serving in Alaska, and Don Young is a congressman serving on the American Last Frontier. The U.S. president has previously been sweet on the Canadian oil patch that approved TC Energy Corporation’s Keystone XL pipeline project, which was rejected by former President Barack Obama. If this continues, the railway project will serve as another important outlet for Alberta oil producers struggling with a lack of pipeline capacity. However, railway lines are considered to be an expensive way to transport oil compared to pipelines.

The proposed 2,570 km A2A railway aims to transport containerized goods as well as heavy goods such as oil, grain and ore, and to develop a “new railway connecting Alaska Railroad and Alaska’s Tidewater to northern Alberta”.

The company said the project would cost $ 22 billion, of which $ 7 billion would be built in Alaska and $ 15 billion in Alberta.

Construction will now begin near the Fairbanks, where the Alaska Railroad ends, and will run south and east through Alaska into the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alberta.

The proposed route would connect the North American Railway Network with the existing Alaska Railroad Network via North Alberta and Alaska’s deep-water ports.

“This is a world-class infrastructure project that will generate more than 18,000 jobs at a time when Canadian workers are most in need, providing a new, more efficient way for trans-Pacific shipping and thereby connecting Alberta with global markets,” A2ARail Railway said in a detailed statement along the Alberta segment Sean McCoshen, founder and chairman, said in July that he was hiring an engineering firm to launch the survey.

“The new rail line will create new economic growth opportunities for a wide range of businesses, associations and indigenous communities in Canada and Alaska,” the chairman said. “We expect A2A Rail to be able to unlock $ 60 billion in additional cumulative GDP by 2040 and increase household income by an average of 40 percent.”

Jean-Paul Gladu, President of the Company, served as President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, from September 2012 to April 2020.

The Alaska-Alberta Railway Development Corporation (A2A Rail) is privately owned and funded by its McCoshen, with the company claiming to have spent over US $ 100 million through the initial stages of the project.

“As the project progresses, it is expected that A2A Rail will draw on infrastructure funding, sovereign wealth groups and private investors. In addition, A2A Rail is considering a number of government grants and loan guarantees in both the US and Canada to assist in providing the necessary risk capital for railway development, ”the company said on its website.