Alberta's oil and gas royalty framework will remain in place until the end of 2016, Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd said on Aug. 28, as she gave details of the panel that will review the scheme for the province's new left-leaning New Democrat government.
McCuaig-Boyd said royalty rates paid by oil and gas companies will not change until 2017, which will help companies budget for the important winter drilling season.
"That is to say, for 16 months companies and investors can operate with certainty, knowing there will be no changes in the royalty framework. If and when changes are made, any incremental revenues will go to the (province's) heritage fund," she told a news conference.
The government also announced that Leona Hanson, mayor of the town of Beaverlodge in northern Alberta, Peter Tertzakian, chief energy economist at energy-focused private equity company ARC Financial Corp, and Annette Trimbee, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg and former senior Alberta bureaucrat, would join the panel leading the review.
Alberta appointed Dave Mowat, the chief executive of the provincially owned financial services agency ATB Financial, in June to lead the panel.
McCuaig-Boyd said the panel's mandate would be to get a better understanding of the current royalty system, its impact on private investment and revenues generated for government, as well as how it compares to other jurisdictions.
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