From grace to grass: Alberta loses its “attractiveness” to global oil; gas investors

According to the Fraser Institute, the Canadian province of Alberta has fallen down to 43th place from 15th place in its ability to attract investments in the oil and gas sector.

What impacts oil and gas investments?
High regulatory obligations; high tax rates; political and environmental factors.

On the other hand, Saskatchewan hop-scotched to 4th from 7th place; British Columbia is steady at 39th. Alberta failed to maintain its position or go highly simply because of high taxation, regulatory duplication and inconsistencies, and uncertain environmental regulations.

Kenneth Green, senior director of the Fraser Institute’s Centre for Natural Resources had this to say:
“The Alberta government has introduced policies that are confusing and possibly costly, creating uncertainty for the oil and gas industry, which can invest elsewhere. It can’t be attributed only to the oil price and opposition to pipelines and things like that because Saskatchewan is doing just fine. It’s a perceived degradation of the regulatory climate and tax regimes here in Alberta.”

But Alberta should not worry just yet; since president-elect Donald Trump supports the Keystone XL, the province’s score is forecast to improve in coming years.
Putting Alberta’s slip aside, Canada is still 3rd most attractive country for oil and gas investment. Other countries that are not-so-bad in gas and oil investments are as follows:
Qatar, U.A.E, China and U.S.A, specifically, the Southern state, Texas.