Canada's Alberta must face the 'changed economic world': Premier

摘要

Vancouver-Facing the prospect of a drastic downturn in exploration activity during the peak winter drilling season and caught off-guard by a "changed economic world," the Alberta government has opted to sacrifice about C$1.8 billion ($1.39 billion) in royalties over five years in hopes of saving thousands of conventional oil and natural gas wells. It is by far the largest concession the Canadian province has made in the past year since it announced a new royalty regime that was designed to boost oil and gas revenues by 20% or about C$1.4 billion a year, starting January 1, 2009.