Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Regina Leader Post Gets Its Numbers Wrong

So many completely ignorant articles are flying about it is hard to keep up with them.

For example, the article being referenced below is encouraging Saskatchewan to raise its royalties too.

Oil is a big-ticket item in Alberta. Alberta accounts for about two-thirds of Canada's crude production. Oil and gas activity produce one-quarter of the province's gross domestic product. Six hundred million barrels extracted last year generated around $40 billion in revenues.

Albertans collected $2.7 billion in royalties ... only seven per cent of the revenue. It is not surprising former Premier Ralph Klein has been quoted as saying he didn't give a "tinker's dam" about the royalty reviews or whether Albertans were getting a fair share of their hydrocarbon wealth.


The BS is flying fast and furious. Whoever wrote this should be slapped hard.

The Alberta Royalty Review itself stated in 2006 that $9.533 billion was collected. They NEGLECTED to include approximately $3 billion in lease sales. I don't have handy numbers for lease rentals, corporate taxes, municiple taxes, but they are considerable.

Only considering royalties and lease sales and assuming the $40 billion in gross revenue is correct tne 31% of gross revenues are taken by government, not 7% as quoted.

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