Bill Hunter, former president of Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries, will head a six-member panel of experts to review Alberta's royalty and resource taxation regime.
Beginning in April, the panel will host a series of public meetings in Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie. They will collect input from the public and energy sector stakeholders.
A final report with recommendations will be presented to the minister of finance by Aug. 31.
Royalties have not been reviewed for more than a decade, and critics say they are far too low compared with other oil-producing areas in North America.
The province says it will set up a website in coming weeks to provide details about registering to make formal presentations; will post submissions made to the panel; and will allow individual Albertans to make online submissions.
Submissions can also be made by faxing (403) 297-5238, e-mailing royalty review@gov.ab.ca, or mailing to Royalty Review Secretariat, #1100, 715 5 Ave. S.W., Calgary, T2P 2X6.
All submissions will be considered public information.
It's one for the history books.
Despite a drop in fourth-quarter earnings, natural gas producer EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA) recorded the largest annual corporate profit in Canadian history.
"It was a year in which we achieved excellent financial results; however, it was another year of high industry inflation and operational inefficiencies across the sector which affected our ability to reach our targeted growth objectives," president and CEO Randy Eresman said in a conference call with analysts.
EnCana, which reports in U.S. dollars, said its full-year net income jumped 65 per cent to $5.65 billion, eclipsing the $5.46 billion booked by BCE Inc. (TSX:BCE) for 1999 during the telecom boom.
EnCana said its earnings amounted to $6.76 per share, up from $3.43 billion or $3.85 per share, including a $2.38-billion gain on hedging and other items. Annual revenues were $16.4 billion, up from $14.57 billion in 2005.
The company doubled its fourth-quarter dividend to 20 cents per share, reflecting "increased confidence in the sustainable nature of our North American unconventional business model," Eresman said.
Eresman acknowledged that EnCana's activities on the East Coast, beyond Deep Panuke, have not been notably successful and there would be a reduction in exploration activity.
But Deep Panuke "is a keeper for us," he said. "It is a project we are continuing to proceed with and we hope to have that development onstream in the next number of years."
A spokesman for the agency that regulates Alberta's oil and gas industry says a posting on an alleged al-Qaeda Internet site calling for terrorist strikes against Canada is not considered a serious threat.
Alberta Energy and Utilities Board spokesman Darin Barter says security plans were put in place after 9/11 to protect oil and gas facilities in the province.
He says Alberta's official threat level is still rated as low, and hasn't gone above that at anytime since the contingency plans were put in place.
Barter says the energy board has direct links to Canada's Security Intelligence Service and other intelligence agencies, and if there was an imminent attack, the board would be notified and the site shut down immediately.
The calls by an al-Qaeda affiliate for a terrorist strike on energy targets in all countries that supply the U.S. with oil was posted recently on the online magazine Voice of the Holy War. It's believed to be the first time the Canadian energy industry has been singled out.
Canada is the largest exporter of both oil and natural gas to the massive U.S. market.
The cost of Pembina Pipeline Income Fund's $1-billion proposed condensate pipeline through northern B.C. and Alberta has increased by 20 per cent.
The project has also been delayed.
Condensate, a kerosene-like liquid, is used to thin crude oil, which allows it to flow through pipelines. It's increasing in demand as the Alberta oilsands ramp up production.
The condensate will come from the Pacific Rim to a marine terminal at Kitimat, and then through northern B.C. It will connect to Calgary-based Pembina's existing pipelines at Summit Lake, just north of Prince George.
Pembina president and CEO Bob Michaleski says the addition of a 60-km looping line between Taylor, B.C., and Judy Creek, Alta., is the primary driver of the $200-million cost increase to the project.
The proposed 465-km pipeline would be capable of shipping 100,000 barrels a day of imported condensate to Summit Lake.
In a clear sign that undeveloped oilsands leases are no longer fetching record-shattering prices, Petro-Canada (TSX:PCA) has pulled its suite of non-core properties off the market. Petro-Canada said the five properties up for sale attracted "considerable attention" from both North American and international energy companies, but the bids weren't high enough.
Petro-Canada estimates the properties hold about 1.7 billion barrels of gluey bitumen.
Energy analyst Tom Ebbern from Tristone Capital in Calgary said there's currently a "wide range of value expectations" for oilsands properties.
"You're seeing that you've got to have the right elements to get the price - probably a higher working interest would certainly be a part of it."
The value of Petro-Canada's oilsands leases, in which the company holds varying minority interests, has been pegged at somewhere between $850 million and $1.7 billion.
Ebbern said falling oil prices, soaring construction costs and constant talk of stricter environmental guidelines for new projects would all factor into the lower valuations.
Doubling the capacity of an oilsands upgrader proposed for northern Alberta will almost double construction costs, but should pay long-term dividends, a Peace River Oil Inc. spokesman says.
Rob Gray said increasing the Calgary-based company's Bluesky heavy-oil upgrader's capacity from 25,000 barrels to 50,000 barrels of oil per day means the project will now cost about $2.5 billion.
That's up from the original $1.4 billion the company estimated when it first announced the plan last fall.
But Gray said the company will save in long-term operating costs for the upgrader near Peace River, even though permanent staff needed will likely increase from 100 to about 400 employees. He said doubling the upgrader's output will divvy up operating costs and meet demands by area oil producers to increase its capacity.
The Bluesky facility, when completed, will produce ultra-low-sulphur diesel and gasoline.
NDP Leader Brian Mason says the Alberta government should learn from what happened in Fort McMurray when it comes to oilsands development in the Peace River area.
"I think we have a chance to get the oilsands development in the Peace River area right, which we did not with the tarsands in Fort McMurray," Mason said.
Mason has called for a moratorium on new oilsands development, but he said it is targeted at the Fort McMurray deposits, not necessarily those in the Peace River region.
