WATCH: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says her government is seeing interest from parties in building a new refinery in Alberta as part of their Made in Alberta strategy.

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Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says her government has met with about a dozen companies about potentially building a new oil refinery.

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Last month the province invited the industry to pitch a brand new refinery or an expansion of an existing one — as long as it uses Alberta-produced oil.

READ MORE: Alberta government seeking expressions of interest to build new oil refinery

Notley said at the time it was too early to provide specifics on what the province might offer in any construction deal.

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 8.

WATCH: Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said the next step to refine the province’s energy resources is to seek expressions of interest from proponents to build a new refinery. Notley said the focus is to make more of the products the world needs on home soil.

READ MORE: As oil price struggle continues, Alberta finance minister calls for changes to equalization program

Notley told cabinet ministers in Calgary Monday that the demonstration of interest so far has been encouraging.

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She says Albertans have been getting pennies on the dollar for their resources for far too long and something has to change.

READ MORE: Who are the winners and losers from the Alberta oil production cut?

“We know that more refining and upgrading adds value and creates jobs and it means that we’re able to deliver on the full potential of the resources that we own. We’re not going to let up,” Notley said.

She added that refining more Alberta oil in-province also acts as a buffer when there isn’t enough pipeline capacity to get Alberta crude to market, which leads to a price discount.

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