Natural Gas
The fact that natural gas is one of the cleanest, cheapest and most efficient sources of energy makes it a necessary component of an environmentally-friendly economy. Alberta is home to a large natural gas resource base and accounts for just over 80 per cent of the natural gas produced in Canada.
It is estimated that 87 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of recoverable, conventional natural gas is still beneath our feet. Alberta’s coal seams could contain as much as an additional 500 Tcf. While it is not yet known how much of this coalbed methane is economically recoverable, Alberta’s natural gas supply will meet the needs of Albertans, Canadians and North Americans for the foreseeable future. Another potential unconventional gas source is gas in shale which is still in the very early stages of development in Alberta.
Alberta Energy ensures Albertans continue to receive the full value from their gas resource by promoting and encouraging responsible exploration and development of Alberta’s natural gas resources, and calculating and collecting gas royalties.
Natural gas is the largest single source of resource development revenue for Albertans, accounting for more than $42.6 billion in royalties paid to the Government of Alberta from fiscal 2000/2001 to fiscal 2006/2007. This total represents about 63 per cent of all provincial revenue from non-renewable resources over that period.
In addition to heating homes and businesses, about 75 per cent of the natural gas consumed in Alberta is used by the industrial sector (including electricity generation). Natural gas is an important raw material for the province’s oil sands and electric power generation industries, which have expanded in recent years as the result of significant investment based on availability of the resource in Alberta.
