Murray Edwards Blasts Alberta Government

[Jack]

-Alberta`s new royalty framework has endangered the future of natural gas in the province, and already affects the value of existing assets, the vice-chairman of Canadian Natural Resources said Tuesday.-The province`s new royalty regime makes parts of Canadian Natural`s $4.2-billion acquisition of Anadarko Canada two years ago "disappointing," Murray Edwards said at an investor event in Calgary.-While the British Columbia and Saskatchewan assets the company acquired in Anadarko are performing well, the Alberta assets are less so, he noted. "A lot of the Alberta assets have become uneconomical or marginally economic with higher royalties," Edwards, one of Canada`s most powerful and influential oilpatch executives, told reporters.

-"The changes are far more punitive than the industry can really live with for the long-term economic development of gas in Alberta," said Edwards.

-Edwards foresees the global market turmoil being felt more deeply on the ground than on Wall Street in the coming months. "I think the risk is that the impact on Main Street is going to be far deeper and longer than we think," he said. "I think you`re looking at a year plus for recovery."

 

[mortgageman]

Edwards is not exactly an unbiased commentator.

 

[Conrad5]

QUOTE (Jack @ Nov 12 2008, 02:55 PM) -Alberta`s new royalty framework has endangered the future of natural gas in the province, and already affects the value of existing assets, the vice-chairman of Canadian Natural Resources said Tuesday.-The province`s new royalty regime makes parts of Canadian Natural`s $4.2-billion acquisition of Anadarko Canada two years ago "disappointing," Murray Edwards said at an investor event in Calgary.-While the British Columbia and Saskatchewan assets the company acquired in Anadarko are performing well, the Alberta assets are less so, he noted. "A lot of the Alberta assets have become uneconomical or marginally economic with higher royalties," Edwards, one of Canada`s most powerful and influential oilpatch executives, told reporters.

-"The changes are far more punitive than the industry can really live with for the long-term economic development of gas in Alberta," said Edwards.

-Edwards foresees the global market turmoil being felt more deeply on the ground than on Wall Street in the coming months. "I think the risk is that the impact on Main Street is going to be far deeper and longer than we think," he said. "I think you`re looking at a year plus for recovery."

These guys should move all their projects to BC and Saskatsewan then. Why all these noise from these guys? If I were Stelmach i would not bother about them.

 

[GarthChapman]

QUOTE (caglah @ Nov 13 2008, 12:39 AM) These guys should move all their projects to BC and Saskatsewan then. Why all these noise from these guys? If I were Stelmach i would not bother about them.

I don`t think you realize how big `these guys` are. The Horizon project alone cost somewhere around 13 billion dollars. If they ceased investing in Alberta we`d sure notice it - not that this is about to happen.

Exploration money is moving to Sask and to BC and that is removing some of the overload from Alberta. This is good now but could easily become a problem in the future. As all businesses must do to survive, Alberta must be competitive. And these days it is cheaper to look for oil and gas in Sask and BC than in ALberta.

 

[MikeMcCrae]

What would we think CNRL would say about royalty increases? Who among us happily endorses new personal taxes? The oil industry is understandably upset about more tax but labor is a problem and many projects can`t be done any way. Nice to have the Alberta government to blame for cancelling their ill planned and impossible projects.

 

[Thomas Beyer]

now is a good time to squeeze the government for concessions !! Of course it is an issue now with low oil and gas prices ..

REIN members / Landlords: unite ! Ask for bailouts, rent subsidies, lower property taxes, utility rebates, laxer landlord-tenant laws, even lower interest rates, free accounting services, subsidized legal services, free office space, better BMW lease terms .. oh we suffer so much .. whine whine whine ... !!!

 

[GarthChapman]

QUOTE (thomasbeyer2000 @ Nov 13 2008, 10:25 AM) now is a good time to squeeze the government for concessions !! Of course it is an issue now with low oil and gas prices ..

REIN members / Landlords: unite ! Ask for bailouts, rent subsidies, lower property taxes, utility rebates, laxer landlord-tenant laws, even lower interest rates, free accounting services, subsidized legal services, free office space, better BMW lease terms .. oh we suffer so much .. whine whine whine ... !!!

Yes, let`s join the chorus. I heard on the radio this morning that American Express is asking the US Gov`t for 3 billion to help them out. If it`s good enough for them - why not us...

 

[Jack]

QUOTE If I were Stelmach i would not bother about them.

Haha!

Yeah, those oil companies - who needs `em? They haven`t contributed much to the recent record surpluses, right? The province has no reason to keep them happy, right?

Hilarious.

 

[EdRenkema]

QUOTE (GarthChapman @ Nov 13 2008, 10:34 AM) Yes, let`s join the chorus. I heard on the radio this morning that American Express is asking the US Gov`t for 3 billion to help them out. If it`s good enough for them - why not us...

Ya thats priceless, AmEx charges exorbitant rates to the willing consumers and when they can`t pay the gov`t aka the consumer/taxpayer must bail them out. Can`t blame them really for asking if the big boys on Wall St. got it why not them...

 

[VicChung]

QUOTE (EdRenkema @ Nov 13 2008, 07:31 PM) Ya thats priceless, AmEx charges exorbitant rates to the willing consumers and when they can`t pay the gov`t aka the consumer/taxpayer must bail them out. Can`t blame them really for asking if the big boys on Wall St. got it why not them...

I agree with everyone on this thread. We should whine, whine and ask for concessions. The problem is that the big corporations have a voice and we do not have that privilege. I have been whining to my friends, but who else???

Let`s join the chorus

 

[wealthyboomer]

QUOTE (VicChung @ Nov 13 2008, 09:58 PM) I agree with everyone on this thread. We should whine, whine and ask for concessions. The problem is that the big corporations have a voice and we do not have that privilege. I have been whining to my friends, but who else???

Let`s join the chorus


YES, let landlords voice as a group...give us money or we will put people out into the streets!