As higher royalties kick in and discourage companies from investing in the province, Alberta will bear the brunt of decreased drilling activity next year, an industry association warned Thursday.
Drilling for natural gas and oil is expected to drop by 10 per cent in 2009 on plummeting commodity prices, the bulk in Alberta as higher government takes make activity uneconomical, said Roger Soucy, president of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada.
"The world has changed since the royalty review panel presented its report," he said at a press conference. "And the change in the world has created situations that has made it unrealistic to have the kind of front-end takes the royalties that the new system calls for."
Author:
Jo Amey
