Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. is deferring an oilsands mine expansion as it waits for Ottawa to finalize environmental policies.

The Calgary-based oil and gas giant had been planning to spend about $150 million this year on early engineering and design work for its $8.25-billion Jackpine mine expansion north of Fort McMurray, Alta., president Scott Stauth said Thursday.

But it’s putting that spending on hold until it gets more clarity around carbon pricing and methane emissions rules, which the company says have created an “economic burden for long-term growth investments.”

Stauth said in an interview that Jackpine is at an early enough stage that the timing can be easily shifted.

“It’s simply about the engineering piece of it, so we have that flexibility and nimbleness to be able to move that project out or bring it back if necessary,” he said.

Alberta and Ottawa signed a memorandum of understanding late last year covering a host of energy matters. In it, the two governments said they aim to reach agreements around industrial carbon pricing and methane by April 1.

“We’re positive that the governments are working very diligently together. We’re going to come up with a positive outcome,” Stauth said.

“We’re just being very prudent from our perspective and ensuring that the outcomes from that are reviewed internally here to ensure that we can tell our investors that growth in oilsands is going to be economically competitive.”

But Janetta McKenzie, the director of the Pembina Institute’s oil and gas program, said in a statement Thursday that “it’s odd to publicly pause a major investment due to carbon pricing and methane policy uncertainty, when clarity on those very topics is expected in less than a month.”

“The ongoing negotiations between Alberta and the federal government include a table with oilsands producers, with the goal of reaching a formal trilateral deal,” she wrote. “These topics can and should be addressed in these negotiations.”

McKenzie also advocated for “strong industrial pricing,” adding: “it remains imperative that, by April 1, we see an agreement between Alberta and Ottawa that upholds their MOU promise to ramp the minimum effective credit price up to $130 per tonne.”

Also Thursday, Canadian Natural disclosed that earlier this year it acquired natural gas assets in the Peace River area of northwestern Alberta from Tourmaline Oil Corp. for $765 million.

“It fits in well with our existing operations,” Stauth said, noting the properties are rich in valuable natural gas liquids.

Canadian Natural is reducing its forecast 2026 operating and capital expenditures by about $310 million, which includes the Jackpine deferral. That brings this year’s outlay to just under $6 billion.

Canadian Natural raised its quarterly dividend to 62.5 cents per share, from 58.75 cents per share.

Its fourth-quarter profit came in at $5.3 billion, or $2.54 a share, a jump from $1.14 billion, or 54 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2024.

On an adjusted basis, Canadian Natural says it earned 82 cents per diluted share from operations in its latest quarter, down from an adjusted profit of 93 cents per diluted share a year earlier.

Product sales for the quarter totalled $10.71 billion, down from $11.06 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Production in the quarter, before royalties, amounted to 1,658,681 barrels of oil equivalent per day, up from 1,470,428 a year earlier.