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As the Kenney government considers making new investments in energy projects, the province is grappling with soaring costs from one of Alberta’s last major forays into the sector: the Sturgeon refinery.

And those bills continue to rise.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Varcoe: Long-delayed Sturgeon refinery a $466M money pit for Alberta Back to video

According to Alberta budget documents released last week, the province has paid about $466 million in debt-servicing costs since June 2018 tied to its commitments to the $9.9-billion refinery, located northeast of Edmonton.

The Alberta Petroleum Marketing Commission (APMC), a Crown corporation, has been making payments averaging $27 million a month related to the financing of the facility. These payments are occurring even though the refinery still is not processing the government’s bitumen at the facility — or generating revenue for the province from its refining operations — due to startup issues.

Now, another new stream of provincial payments is set to kick in.