* Provincial, federal government near agreement on carbon

pricing for oil sands companies

* Broader agreement on a new pipeline, carbon-capture

project remains elusive

* Alberta aims to present pipeline proposal by July 1

despite unresolved cost-sharing for Pathways project

* Carney has said pipeline plan cannot proceed without

oil sands commitment to Pathways

(Adds word headline to paragraph 5 to clarify that price

frozen is legislated carbon price)

By Amanda Stephenson

CALGARY, April 27 (Reuters) - Canada and Alberta are

expected to strike a deal in the next two weeks that will

increase the price on carbon for the province's industrial

emitters, two sources with knowledge of the talks said, but a

broader agreement to tackle oil sands greenhouse gases and

green-light a new crude oil export pipeline remains elusive.

Canada's federal government and its main oil-producing province

have been in talks since November, when both parties agreed to

work together to boost investment in energy production.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has rolled back climate rules in

order to help the oil-and-gas sector as part of an effort to

make Canada's economy more resilient against U.S. President

Donald Trump's tariffs. He has said he is willing to get behind

the construction of a new oil pipeline to the West Coast if

Alberta agrees to strengthen its pollution pricing scheme and if

Canada's biggest oil sands companies will sign on to the giant

C$16.5 billion ($12.1 billion) Pathways carbon capture and

storage project.

But getting all of those moving parts to snap into place

that address Canada's twin goals of boosting economic growth and

tackling climate change is proving to be thorny, and it is

unclear whether a pricing agreement will increase the chances

that the other negotiations are ultimately successful. The three

parties recently missed a self-imposed April 1 deadline on

divvying up the costs of the larger carbon-capture project.

The two sources said a carbon pricing agreement that would

increase the effective credit cost in the province's carbon

market to C$130 a metric ton is very close to being finalized.

Alberta froze its headline industrial carbon price in May of

last year. Credits currently trade between C$20 and C$40 a

metric ton - too low to incentivize polluters to invest in

emissions reduction technology, experts said.

The sources did not say what year the deal will require the

target to be reached.

GREENHOUSE GASES AND PIPELINES

Experts say a carbon pricing deal is necessary first to make

the economics of the Pathways project work. Pathways, first

proposed by the companies in 2022, would be one of the world's

largest such projects, with the potential to significantly

reduce emissions from the oil sands, Canada's largest source of

greenhouse gases.

At the same time, Canada's oil industry is keen to grow

production, and Alberta is working on a proposal for a new

one-million-barrel-per-day crude oil pipeline to British

Columbia's northwest coast, hoping to entice a private company

to build the line.

An Alberta government source said the province remains

committed to presenting its pipeline proposal by July 1, and

wants an agreement before then with Canada's oil sands companies

that commits them to building the carbon capture and storage

project. Carney has said any pipeline project must be built in

tandem with that project.

Critics said all of the interlocking pieces must come

together in order for Canada to meet its twin goals of climate

action and economic growth, which is why it is concerning that

the April 1 deadline has come and gone with only partial

progress.

"If they (the oil sands) don't move forward with Pathways

now, there is no way a pipeline could move ahead concurrently,"

said Janetta McKenzie, director of oil and gas at the Pembina

Institute, a clean energy think-tank.

Representatives for both Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and

the Oil Sands Alliance, which represents the five largest

Canadian oil sands companies, said negotiations are ongoing.

The prime minister's office did not respond to a request for

comment.

(1 Canadian dollar = $0.73 U.S.)