Letters To The Editor

If this man is an economist, he misses a huge player in the whole fiscal reality:  JOBS.

The competitiveness review was never about land sales.  Its really hard to fathom why he chose to focus in on that element, as it is a small piece of the industry expenditure.  I seem to recall that a 1500 metre well in Central Alberta was estimated to create over 1500 man days of employment.    The spin offs from that is dramatically more than what is generated by those sales every two weeks.

With this individual being part of the Panel that bore the New Royalty Framework, it is easy to see why that outcome was flawed from the get go.

People are funny. The folks at Wellsboro PA would apparently rather be a backwater town than have the financial advantages that the oil and gas industry bring to an area, such as higher levels of employment, full hotels, higher incomes etc. They complain about traffic, noise, damage to roads and "the loss of the rural lifestyle."

Doesn't that have a familiar ring to it?? Weren't those arguments used by that Ed Stelmach supporters used to justify a 66% increase in oil industry royalties so that Albertans could get "their fair share"?? Why doesn't Mrs. Mary Worthington phone her counterparts in Hanna, Camrose, Brooks, Drayton Valley or High Level to see how the townsfolk here like the drastic decrease in oil and gas industry activity that Ed and his pals helped to create. Maybe she should call Ed's brother-in-law!

The damage that Stelmach has done to the oil and gas industry will take years to rectify. For example, the apporx. $1.75 billion that EnCana has spent elswhere due to Alberta's new royalty system ain't coming back. How did Ed miss the lesson that the oil and gas industry is important to Alberta's economy after being in government for 14 years BEFORE becoming premier? It's a clear indication that, it's not the experience you have in government but rather to whom do you listen. And if anybody in "Ed"-monton was paying attention, they would have seen that the Alberta gas industry was on shaky ground BEFORE the economic meltdown of 2008.   

Here's a bold prediction: the folks in Wellsboro PA will rue the day when the gas companies pull up stakes and leave town.

i enjoyed reading the article written by Elsie Ross on heavy oil as the story is starting to get around.  I did find one error which I'd like to bring to your attention.  Near the end of the article you quote Palliser's water handling costs as $15/bbl for new wells and $22/bbl for reactivated wells; in fact these are the all-in operating costs for the wells as water handling costs are under $2/bbl for trucking and disposing.  Knowledgeable readers will likely know the water handling costs quoted are unrealistic but some might take the information at face value.  Our heavy oil wells have netbacks ranging from $25/bbl to as high as $40/bbl which would not be possible if water handling costs were as high as quoted.

The graph for 2007 adds to 103 percent. The Nuclear in 2007 should be 11 % not 14.

Farhood Rahnama

Chief Economist ERCB

Medvedev conveniently fails to mention that MOST conventional gas production requires hydraulic fracturing. This is a smoke screen to try and put environmentalist pressure on North American gas producers by scaring the general population.

If these quotes are accurate, this person has a very naive and narrow perspective on the oil and gas exploration business.  These are quotes aimed at those who may live in the primarily consuming portions of the US whose idea of the business has been formed from television and Hollywood.

  You can count on a unity crisis happening how can western Canadians tolerate this kind of unequal treatment this cannot be stated enough to eastern Canadians especially based on one of the biggest scams in modern history manmade climate change a gigantic hoax. 

How much would it cost to instead build a replacement plant that burns natural gas, or to convert this plant to burn natural gas? 

excellent

I'd just like to know where you got the quote to convert a vehicle to natural gas for $600.  The quotes we're looking at for our operator's trucks are more in the $10,000 range.  It would sure be nice to drive the cost of conversion down!