Alberta’s Initiative to Establish Test Site for Advancing Drilling Technologies

November 25, 2024 TruthUSA

Alberta’s government has announced plans to invest up to $50 million to establish a groundbreaking drilling test site in Canada. The site will focus on supporting technology development in the oil, gas, geothermal, and lithium industries.

The Alberta Drilling Accelerator aims to be an industry-led site that offers open access for companies to test drilling technologies at deep depths, high temperatures, and on various types of rock.

The exact location for the hub site is still to be determined.

Although no formal contracts have been signed yet, several companies have shown keen interest in being anchor tenants, including Eavor Technologies from Calgary, Tourmaline Oil Corp., and Halliburton, an international oilfield service giant.

The funding for this initiative will come from the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) program, which is funded by Alberta’s heavy emitters as part of the industrial carbon pricing system.

The provincial government anticipates that the Alberta Drilling Accelerator could commence drilling operations in 2026.