The Saskatchewan NDP is questioning the government’s sale of two natural gas plants to a private company.
SaskEnergy is selling its 50 per cent share of gas processing plants in Kisbey and Coleville to Alberta-based Steel Reef Infrastructure for $31.3 million.
Nicole Rancourt, the NDP critic for SaskEnergy, said there should have been public consultations before the sale was made.
“What was the decision behind selling these gas plants, what was the consultation behind that?” Rancourt asked.
“I think these are simple questions, questions that should’ve been considered prior to the sale of these plants.”
SaskEnergy said it made the decision to divest itself of plants in an area it has little expertise.
“When we started the Coleville plant in 1959, there really wasn’t a lot of gas processing available in Saskatchewan, now there is gas processing plants everywhere,” explained Dave Burdeniuk, a SaskEnergy spokesman.
“It’s not something we have a lot of expertise in, so that’s why we made the decision to go ahead with the sale.”
SaskEnergy said there are roughly 30 gas processing plants in the province and these two are the final publicly owned facilities.
The sale is expected to close on Oct. 1.