File picture from May 3, 2006, showing constructions in the Statoil's Melkoya LPG plant near Hammerfest in Norway.JOHN HUGES/AFP / Getty Images
An Edmonton court has been told that Norwegian energy giant Statoil ASA will admit to at least some environmental infractions in relation to its oilsands operations in northern Alberta.
"There will be a guilty plea," Crown prosecutor Susan McRory told a judge Wednesday.
"We're looking at creative sentencing options," she said. "That's a labour-intensive process."
The company was charged in February under provincial laws with 16 counts of improperly diverting water for use at its in-situ site near Conklin, Alta. The company also faces three counts of providing false or misleading statements about the alleged activity in 2008 and 2009.
Defence lawyers did not address the court. But company spokesman Peter Symons said from Calgary that Statoil expects some of the charges to be dropped.
"We expect there will be a substantial reduction in the number of charges faced by Statoil," he said. "We're working on a resolution to the case that will benefit Albertans.
"It's still up in the air as to what the final outcome will be."
Alberta has legislation that allows for the government to work out a sentence other than the fines called for by law.
For example, when Syncrude Canada Ltd. was sentenced last fall in the death of 1,600 migrating ducks on its tailings ponds, it was ordered to fund habitat restoration, studies on bird deterrence and an environmental studies program. The total cost of the penalty was $3-million.
Ms. McRory said the sentence will be accompanied by an agreed statement of facts.
The maximum fine faced by Statoil is $500,000 for each charge.
Greenpeace Norway campaigner Truls Gulowsen said the penalty the company ultimately receives must be high enough to prevent future infractions.
"If any fines are going to have preventive effects on oil companies that are making millions of dollars per hour, they need to be really, really high," Mr. Gulowsen said outside court. "We hope that this is a step in the right direction of tough enforcement."
Statoil is to be back in court Nov. 21 for sentencing.