Sask. budget: Potash royalties expected to eclipse oil-sector earnings in coming year - Prince Albert Daily Herald

News FacebookXLinkedinCopy URL Kayle Neis / Regina Leader-Post Minister of Energy and Resources Chris Beaudry stands inside the rotunda after the 2026-2027 provincial budget was announced inside the Saskatchewan legislature on Wednesday. Nykole King Regina Leader-Post Saskatchewan’s 2026-27 budget includes continued investment into critical mineral discovery while less revenue is anticipated from the oil sector. Royalty revenues from potash mining are expected to bring $940.9 million into provincial coffers in the coming fiscal year as oil takes a back seat with projected royalty earnings of $721 million. Energy and Resources Minister Chris Beaudry said oil is still a significant resource for the province, but critical minerals are rising in importance with more mining operations set to come online this year. “Potash is our largest critical mineral. It is key to the budget, and uranium is a critical mineral as well, and it’s absolutely key to moving Saskatchewan forward into the future,” said Beaudry after the budget was tabled on March 18. Oil has long held the top spot for provincial exports, with potash supplanting it only three times since 2000, according to data from Statistics Canada. The province’s budget for the next year shows that mining minerals is a key driver of Saskatchewan’s economy. While no new funding promises were announced for the sector on Wednesday, Beaudry said the government will continue to fund the $3.5-million Targeted Mineral Exploration Incentive, a rebate to offset costs for hard-rock mineral projects. This is expected to aid the province’s pledge to have commercial production in copper, zinc and lithium by the end of 2026. That makes up part of 17 private-sector mining projects worth a combined $39 billion. The Ministry of Energy and Resources is also fulfilling its previous commitment to the Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS) with $2.3 million earmarked for its Public Geoscience Initiative. In the 2024-25 budget, the province said it would provide a total of $10 million over a 10-year period to promote new critical mineral discoveries. The province forecasts that the oil sector will produce 5.4 million more barrels between April 2026 and March 2027 than it did the previous 12 months. But it believes that global oil prices will be lower. The NDP’s Sally Housser, critic for the energy and resources, said she’s concerned the government didn’t invest in infrastructure needed to move resources out to market. “The words ‘port’ and ‘rail’ aren’t mentioned in the budget once, and I think there’s a brief mention of pipelines, but every industry I speak to tells me that those are the number one things,” Housser said. The government has pegged the average price of crude oil at US$59.75 per barrel for the next fiscal year. It said budget figures were prepared in early February before geopolitical tensions disrupted the movement of oil from the Persian Gulf. On the day of the budget, the contract price for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at US$99 — up about $30 since the launch of the Iran war on Feb. 28. Saskatchewan has stated a goal of increasing oil production to 600,000 barrels per day by 2030. Based on oil production forecasts in the budget, this year’s average number of barrels per day is anticipated to be just under 454,000. Beaudry says pipeline infrastructure won’t impede the province’s goals over the next couple of years. “The current infrastructure we have in Saskatchewan, I believe that we can produce 600,000 barrels and get it to the places that it’s needed,” Beaudry said. nyking@postmedia.com -Advertisement-