Thoughts on Oil Royalty Review

[W101]

Interesting article on the last Royalty attempt ,total sham , the former PC minister
  Intimates that Rachel is dreaming while awake .


http://calgaryherald.com/business/energy/former-energy-minister-says-he-was-ostracized-by-oilpatch-colleagues-over-last-royalty-review

I like the first comment about the  Royal commission salary review on Alberta Civil servants.
  Fat chance on that . Of all the scams the NDP run their cronieism and pork barrelling are
  Second to none . They are the best carnie act in the business. Rachel is after all a lawyer
   Need I say more .

[Walleyes]

There was nothing wrong with our royalty system to begin with. Again people listened to the wrong people. Someone told them that Albertans weren't getting their fare share that's why the province was in the hole and people beleived them. The issue was never a revenue problem but a spending problem. It doesn't matter how much money you make if you spend it all,, it's gone.

Alberta was in a real situation,, quite frankly it couldn't keep up with the explosion in population and its infrastructure,, it had to spend,, but we didnt have the money to spend,, it's just wasn't there. I have said it before,, this slow down is the best thing to happen to Alberta in a long time. Yes it's painful and hard on a lot of people but it's good. Maybe a few hundred thousand people will move back to where ever it is they came from and take some of the stress off of our tax system. Maybe people will learn to live within their means again, maybe housing will come back down to a point our children can actualy own a home before they are 50.

Notely and her bunch of rejects are a joke we all know that,, an embarrassment is what they are,, what a clown
show.. But let her screw up to the max and like I said come next election when someone mentions the NDP,, punch them square in the face lol.

We all know Edmonton will go commie again,, it's a labour town but let them,, we will see how it works out for them lol. I honestly believe that socialists lack the intelligence to comprehend the effects of their ideals,, it's obvious. You can not stand before me and spew the garbage they come up with and expect me to have a conversation with you,, its absolutely impossible.

And old Justin is screwing up royally out east as well,, again perfect. Let people see the effects of their actions. They will be sorry.

On another note I saw that Kevin O'Leary is thinking about running for PM wouldn't that be awesome. Could you emagine, Kevin O'Leary up here and Donald Trump in the US.. Man,, a capitalists wet dream. I tell you all,, these two countries would be the strongest they have been in many many years. One can dream,, one can dream..

[OL_JR]

           Reviewing the royalties is one promise I wish they wouldn't have kept.  As well as the corporate tax bump during a downturn.  I wish I knew more about the people on the panel but at a quick glance I think it could be worse.  Notley says the delay in the rollout has nothing to do with the government not agreeing with the panels recommendations but I really doubt it. 

           In the end it was absurd for the NDP to campaign on policies that would hurt the oil industry, it was absurd that enough Albertans voted to put them in power and it's absurd that they are following through on it especially with oil prices nose diving.  Maybe we'll be pleasantly surprised and royalties will get cut during price slides like this?

           I will agree with Walleyes that there are some positives to come out of a downturn.  The influx of people has created problems and on a completely selfish note it would be nice to reduce the crowds you see on the weekends.  I don't expect to go out on a long weekend and see no one but it is getting ridiculous.  And maybe some of these oil companies can learn to be a bit more efficient, cut out the bad apples and do things a little smarter.  Anyone that works in the patch can vouch for how much waste goes on from bad engineering to bloated ridiculous safety programs and pointless overtime.  I like overtime as much as the next guy but not just so some company man has a reason to invoice.

[honkerhitter]

To say there is nothing wrong with our royalty structure is a bit mis leading .  Big oil has made billions and a pitence if that has come back to the Alberta people.
 Ralph made a deal with the devil and bet a large part on NG returns which worked well for several years.

 Fast Eddy had the right idea , but his timing couldn't have been worse.  The US realestate implosion and huge bank scams which started the 07-08 recession hand cuffed him.
And Remember folks  the Big Oil  in Calgary was soley responsible for Daniel Smith and the wild rose, they turned on Eddy and the conservatives , bank rolled her and used her to more or less scare everyone back into towing the party line.
 I bet they didn't even see Mrs. Liberal ( Redford) getting put in by the teachers , I'm guessing they figured they could work with her .
 The Wild Rose although started by big oil quickly took on a grass routes membership, and the writing was on the wall . I'm still not sure if the traitor went across the floor on her own accord or if prompted.
 As much as I hate/ despise / resent the NDP , it looks like big oil dabbling in politics has bit them in the ass . Which may be an eye opener.
 Not sure what needs to be done for a review or what kind of structure needs to be in place that benifits Alberta as a province but also inspires investment and development and stability to the Oil and Gas industries.
If we can't unite the right in the next election this province will be in a hole impossible to recover from.
Hoping in 4 years there is something left to salvage !

[Walleyes]

The thing is honker you can't change the rules halfway through the game. Companies have invested hundreds of billions of dollars based on a budget that was given to them. Now part way through their expenditures those expenses are going to change for the long term. It can't happen. Should Albertans be getting more,, possibly but why was Ralph able to balance the budget on less than the last two had ?? It's not a revenue problem our governments had it was a spending problem. Fattened buracratic expenses, multiple assistants for every minister. Hand outs upon hand outs to friendly organizations. It was sickening. We needed a change in government that goes without saying,, just not what we got..

[honkerhitter]

I completely agree , I wanted to point out some of the circumstances leading us to the current situation.
We are now closing the barn door long after the horse has been out.
Like Chef Ramsy would say " were Fooked"

[Walleyes]

Some common sense showed today by the dippers. Little change in the end coming to companies so this may help ease some pain.

I like how they came out and said that after a closer look at things Albertans were indeed getting their fare share.. Funny when the Cons kept saying this for years they were liars and in bed with the oil companies. But now that the commies had a chance to sit down and look at it closely it is in fact a decent system.

Hopefully this helps spark some activity out there. I know the company I work for has been holding some projects on the back burner until this review was in place. As much, even more than the commodity prices was the uncertainty on what this report was going to bring. I'm hoping this gets things moving a bit.

PS.. Still can't stand the commies though..

[AxeMan]

Some great comments on this thread.  One common theme holds true through all of it.  Alberta has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.  Of course the world oil price is the elephant in the room but we must soldier on, it will recover.  As a lot of you know, I work in post secondary education and get to see much of the budget and operations/capital spending plans at one of biggest institutes in this province.  Education is vital to Alberta's success, but let me tell you sometimes the spending is like a runaway freight train.  Some days it takes all of my patience and effort as an individual to be as conservative as possible and provide some amount of influence to save money.  I have been scorned for being a cheap conservative at work from the majority liberal minded coworkers around me, and let me assure you, the majority are liberal.   The bureaucracy is a big machine though, beyond any one individual's control.  Alberta needs leadership at the top to control the waste and change the culture of crazy spending.  The NDP nor the PC's are the answer.  Some of Ric McIver's comments in the news lately are truly hypocritical, I am not sure how he makes them with a straight face.  I think Brian Jean gets it, but I don't get very much confidence from much of the rest of that party.  Brian has some challenging times ahead now to surround himself with the right people, but you know politics, it attracts losers.

Good to see that no draconian money grabs were instituted on the Royalty Review at this time.  I have to admit, I have not studied the details yet, so I cant comment much beyond that.  I would hope that some sort of sliding scale has been put in place to allow industry stay afloat in the rough times and help the province more in the high times.  We all know that the world oil price is high volatile.

[W101]

This is not quite over .


http://www.calgarysun.com/2016/01/30/alberta-labour-leader-gil-mcgowan-pushes-back-against-premier-rachel-notleys-royalty-u-turn

 I'm not a patch guy , never worked in oil and gas .....so I don't get everything . But I am so grateful
  For the oil boom as I sold massive amounts of product to Alberta Lsbor .
 Is the union boss pissed because Rachel let the industry off the hook , didn't put the screws to them .
  I always get the feeling with the union it's More at any cost .

[Walleyes]

I guess at the end of the day who gives a patoot what a labour leader likes or dislikes. If they don't like it,, boycot any further union jobs in the oil sector,, no one would care lol.