Additional Energy Revenue

Bonuses from Public Offerings of Crown leases
The Dept of Energy leases mineral rights for industry exploration and development thru a competitive sealed bid auction held about every two weeks. Successful bids received are referred to a “bonus bids.

  • 2006/07 $2.463 billion
  • 2007/08 $1.128 billion
  • 2008/09 $1.153 billion (Budget 2009) 
  • 2009/10 $0.631 billion (*Budget 2009)

Rentals and fees
Leases issued are charged an annual rent of $3.50 per hectare for each hectare covered by the agreement.)

  • 2006/07 $159 million
  • 2007/08 $159 million
  • 2008/09 $158 million (Budget 2009)
  • 2009/10 $143 million (*Budget 2009)

Freehold mineral tax
The Crown owns 81 per cent of the province's mineral rights. The remaining 19 per cent are 'freehold' mineral rights owned by the federal government on behalf of First Nations or in National Parks, and by individuals and companies.   The Crown levies an annual tax on freehold oil and gas production.

  • 2006/07 $317 million 
  • 2007/08 $247 million
  • 2008/09 $241 million (Budget 2009)
  • 2009/10 $200 million (*Budget 2009)

*forecast

Alberta Stats/ Industry Activity - 2007 (Except where noted)

Reserves (Discovered and recoverable under current technology and prices)

  • Crude bitumen = 173 billion barrels
  • Conventional Oil = 1.5 billion barrels
  • Natural Gas = 39 trillion cubic feet
  • Coal = 37 billion tons

Number of oil sands projects
As of February 2009, the province had 91 producing oil sands projects

  • 48 in pre-payout
  • 43 in post-payout

Drilling statistics

  • As of the end of August 2008, there were 66,650 oil wells and 138,368 gas wells in Alberta.
  • In 2007, there were 9238 natural gas wells, 765 CBM wells, 1,811 oil wells and 1,392 bitumen wells successfully drilled in Alberta.

Production numbers

  • 1.32 million barrels per day of bitumen (per day)
  • 524,800 barrels per day of conventional oil (per day)
  • 4.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (per year)
  • 241 billion cubic feet of commingled gas from CBM wells (per year)
  • 37 million tons of coal (2006 annual)

How much does it cost to build an oil sands plant? upgrader? refinery?

  • According to the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute, the estimated cost to build a new refinery with production capacity between 175,000 and 200,000 barrels per day is $4 billion.
  • According to the Petroleum Economist the cost for a new 140,000 barrels a day oil sands plant (mining) is approximately C$2.2 billion. With an on-site upgrader the same plant would cost approximately C$2.53 billion 

Employment

  • Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction Sector  = 146,900
  • Oil and Gas Extraction industry = 69,900
  • Support Activities for Mining & Oil & Gas Extraction (primarily oil and gas exploration and drilling) = 71,700
  • Mining other than oil and gas (mainly coal and mineral mining & quarrying) = 5,100

 

Last reviewed/revised: 2009-08-20