Alberta Bets $35 Million on the Future of Drilling: From Smarter Oil Wells to Geothermal and Critical Minerals Breakthroughs
Alberta launches $35-million challenge to reinvent drilling for the next 50 years
By Robert Buluma | December 3, 2025
EDMONTON – The days of drilling straight down and hoping for the best are long gone. Today, operators in Western Canada routinely steer multi-kilometre horizontal wells with pinpoint accuracy from a single surface location. Tomorrow’s wells, however, could be guided entirely by artificial intelligence, powered by low-emission rigs, and used to unlock everything from geothermal heat to critical minerals and permanent CO₂ storage.
That future just got a $35-million boost.
Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA) officially opened applications this week for the Drilling Technology Challenge, a funding program designed to bridge the “valley of death” that too often kills promising subsurface innovations before they ever reach the field.
“Many great ideas never make it past the prototype stage because the cost and risk of real-world testing are simply too high,” said Justin Riemer, CEO of ERA. “This challenge changes that. We’re looking for the technologies that will define energy development – and resource development broadly – for decades to come.”
Broad scope, big ambition
While the program is rooted in Alberta’s world-class oil and gas service sector, the eligible applications extend far beyond hydrocarbons:
Advanced drilling mechanics and downhole tools
AI-enabled automation, real-time optimization, and predictive analytics
Sensors and robotics that turn wells into “smart” systems
Low-impact rigs, environmentally benign drilling fluids, and reduced-surface-footprint designs
Geothermal-specific systems
Solutions tailored for critical mineral extraction (lithium, helium, potash, etc.)
Technologies that enable safe, verifiable geological CO₂ storage
Projects can receive between $250,000 and $8 million each, with the total envelope capped at $35 million. Both early-stage concepts and near-commercial technologies are welcome.
“All transformative ideas are really eligible,” Riemer emphasized. “We expect AI will play a starring role. Imagine wells that continuously self-optimize while drilling, avoiding trouble before it happens, using live data streamed from an array of downhole sensors. That future is closer than most people think.”
More than oil & gas
Industry leaders are quick to point out that mastering next-generation subsurface access benefits far more than traditional energy.
“Alberta’s wealth has always come from what lies beneath our feet,” said Gurpreet Lail, CEO of Enserva, the association representing the province’s energy service and supply companies. “Whether it’s hydrocarbons today, geothermal tomorrow, or the critical minerals the world needs for batteries and renewables, almost everything still starts with a hole in the ground. If we lead on the technology that creates that hole cleaner, cheaper, and smarter, we lead the next resource economy.”
Deadline and details
Applications close January 29, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. MT.
Full program guidelines, eligibility criteria, and the application portal are available here
With global demand growing for secure, low-emission energy and the raw materials required for the energy transition, Alberta is betting that the companies who figure out how to reach the subsurface better, faster, and cleaner will power the province’s economy for generations to come.
The Drilling Technology Challenge is now open. The future is waiting underground – and the tools to reach it just got serious funding.
Source: ERA ALBERTA TECHNOLOGY
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