Alberta marks start of $2.9B Yellowhead gas pipeline

EDMONTON – Alberta marked the start of construction on the $2.9-billion Yellowhead Pipeline on Oct. 13, a project the province says will add more than one billion cubic feet per day of natural gas transportation capacity to Alberta’s Industrial Heartland.

Premier Danielle Smith and Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean announced the groundbreaking in a joint statement. The project includes 235 kilometres of pipeline and facilities.

The government said construction is expected to support about 2,000 jobs. It credited Canadian Utilities, ATCO and project partners, along with Indigenous communities, municipalities and landowners, for their roles in the project.

The province said the pipeline will enable about $20 billion in investment in the region, including the Dow Fort Saskatchewan Path2Zero project. Dow’s $8.9-billion expansion was announced in 2023 by Smith and then federal finance minister Chrystia Freeland.

“Alberta is the best place in Canada to invest, build and do business,” Smith said in the statement.

The statement did not give a completion date, and it did not say who would own the pipeline or how it would be paid for. Those details were not in the release.

For Albertans, the project is one of several energy infrastructure moves in progress. Ottawa listed the proposed west coast oil pipeline, known as Pacific Link, as a project of national interest on Oct. 1, and Métis leaders have since said they were shut out of talks on it.

Unlike that oil project, Yellowhead is aimed at moving gas to industrial users in the Heartland, northeast of Edmonton, where the province expects investment tied to petrochemicals and lower-emission projects.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.

Source: Government of Alberta joint statement, Oct. 13, 2026.