[lbo-talk] dire words from IPCC

tfast tfast at yorku.ca
Sat Apr 7 13:57:54 PDT 2007


Hey its Alberta: think Texan oil men and Evangelicals on Crack and completely in control. Personally I await global warming which will turn most of Alberta into a lifeless sand dune.


> On 4/7/07, tfast <tfast at yorku.ca> wrote:
> > > On 4/7/07, Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > 1301 actions in 51 states
> > >
> > > 51 states, huh? I guess you are counting Canada too?
> > >
> > > /me running and ducking...
> > >
> > Sheesh we can't even trust the US radical left to not be expansionist:)
But
> > why occupy what you already lease on such great terms?
>
> Now that you mention it, I looked into Canada's oil royalty regime,
> and boy, it does offer, alas, great terms. Where's a Canadian Hugo
> Chavez?
>
>
<http://www.canadianbusiness.com/shared/print.jsp?content=20070212_85147_851 47
> >
> Over a barrel
> Andrew Nikiforuk
> >From the February 12, 2007 issue of Canadian Business magazine
>
> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>
> The Royalty Ruckus
>
> Ever since oil prices catapulted beyond US$50 a barrel, oil-producing
> nations have either raised their royalties or nationalized the
> resource. But not Alberta. In 1996, the provincial government
> introduced a standard 1% royalty regime that predictably resulted in
> an explosion of industry investment and corresponding infrastructure
> woes. The bargain-basement royalty regime, which has been roundly
> criticized by citizens but defended by industry, remains at 1% until a
> project has recovered the cost of construction. Cost overruns also
> delay any increases.
>
> Even the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, a defender of
> low royalties, ranks the tarsands regime in competitiveness as 79th
> out of 324 world royalty regimes. (In contrast, Alberta's conventional
> oil royalties rank somewhere between 209 and 258 out of 324.) The
> CIBC's Rubin doesn't think Alberta's royalty giveaway can last much
> longer. He points out that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez "had a
> similar subsidy for the Orinoco tarsands," but quickly abandoned it
> given the economics of oil prices.
>
> Alberta's current payout also applies to bitumen rather than upgraded
> oil. The general price for bitumen (a product with an ill-defined
> market value) is generally half of that posted for West Texas
> Intermediate, a fact most Albertans don't recognize. "Small wonder we
> are seeing so many oilsands companies proposing upgraders," Ian
> Urquhart, a University of Alberta political scientist, noted at a
> public meeting on the tarsands last year. "They will pay royalties on
> bitumen and then sell the final product at roughly twice the price."
>
> Although Alberta's generous royalty system has increased corporate
> income at an annualized rate of 42% between 1999 and 2006 for a total
> increase of 440%, it has not enriched provincial coffers. According to
> the Pembina Institute, Alberta tarsand royalties declined by 32%
> between 1996 and 2005.
>
> Alberta's new premier, Ed Stelmach, has promised a full and
> transparent review of the outdated royalty regime this year. And few
> doubt that the province will eventually insist on a higher and fairer
> share of tarsands wealth. "But even with a more aggressive royalty
> structure, Alberta remains company-friendly," says Rubin. "The
> companies have no other place to go."
>
> --
> Yoshie
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