Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrewl
Alberta is currently in a fight with the oil companies to increase the royalty rate... and give more back to the people. The problem with the oil sands is it takes incredible amounts of water and natural gas just to produce one barrel of oil. So not only are we depleting the sticky tar sands, but we are depleting the water and natural gas at an alarming rate just to do this... right now the royalty rate to the provincial government is only about 1% and the oil companies are threatening to slow down and cancel projects if we increase it. Im all for that myself, but others with jobs in the sector are not... So far we all got 400 bucks and thats it.....
Andrew
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I don’t know that you can really say that Alberta is currently taking up the fight. Last I heard Stelmach has yet to say where the Conservatives stand on the issue. I am expecting a “compromise” which, in my opinion, is quite disappointing. The oil companies have done an amazing job campaigning for lower royalties and it looks like they are going to be at least partially successful.
In my opinion slowing down projects would be a good idea. The resources will be available in future years. Infrastructure needs to catch up to the current demands placed on it.
In my opinion the natural gas being used for extraction is not problematic. There is a market for natural gas and it is priced appropriately therefore there must be some benefit to using it. Water on the other hand is problematic largely because the resource is not valued appropriately.