Alberta oil royalties ... a fresh look?

For years, critics have claimed Alberta's take from the oil & gas industry is too low. Comparisons are frequently made to Norway which obtains five times the revenue from a barrel of oil or gas equivalent as Alberta does. Almost half of that is due to Norway's direct investment in the industry, something Alberta doesn't have, but even considering only royalties and other fees, Norway still collects over 2.5 times as much per barrel as Alberta. One result is that Norway has a "heritage fund" of over $165 billion compared to Alberta's $14 billion.

Some of the candidates for the leadership of the Alberta Conservative Party are promising to open up the royalty issue to public debate. "Let Albertans decide if we're getting a fair share," says legislator Ed Stelmach. Jim Dinning, the front runner, believes the issue concerns many Albertans and agrees the public should be fully informed. He talks about "... a factual black-and-white statement ..." to " ... start the review so that Albertans gain a growing sense of confidence around what are the facts ..." A recent government in-house review of the royalty regime recommended only marginal change and produced no public documents.

An informed public debate on the issue of a fair share is overdue. Let's hope whoever wins will insist on it.