48 cents a barrel

this is just one of many programs to 'help' out the industry that has seen record breaking profits for a record breaking number of years...

INNOVATIVE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES PROGRAM MAY 2009 DATA

Perhaps complaints about royalty 'breaks, reductions, forgiveness, etc.' could be seen more realistically if we called the oil and gas companies, and the coal mining and forestry companies, Pawn Brokers. We Albertans have these assets, but we don’t believe in ourselves enough to clean them up, pack them up and sell them. We're not prepared to invest ourselves in doing the grunt work. Instead, we turn them over to the Pawn Brokers and take a small fraction of the value and the Pawn Brokers take ownership and can do with them what they will.

Pawn Brokers generally profit handsomely by relying on the desperate or lazy, by paying as little as they can get away with, and selling as high as they can. Unless the owners of the asset have no choices, there will be a point where they will refuse to sell to the Pawn Broker, because they can do better selling elsewhere, or they cannot stomach the insult.

For example, if I had a an asset with a commonly known market value of, say $60.00, I would not consign it to a Pawn Broker for 48 cents. If the Pawn Broker claimed that he would have to lay off staff, stop paying taxes, and move his shop to someplace where I could no longer pawn my assets to him, I would say, “So long, don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out!” because, in a real free market I know that I could get more than 48 cents for my $60. asset, and if I couldn't, I would hang on to it until I could. Especially if I had to fill my basement full of sewage to brng the asset to the surface in order to pawn it.

Today our government gave the oil and gas industry (Pawn Brokers in my little story) another hunk of Albertans cash, to the tune of $41,500,000.00

The needy recipients are:

May 14, 2009
Province supports nine innovative energy projects

Edmonton... The Government of Alberta is strengthening its commitment to establishing the province as a world-class centre for responsible energy development through funding for nine innovative energy projects.

ARC Resources Ltd. $7,560,000.00 Redwater Immiscible CO2 Vertical Pilot Project
Location: Approximately 10 kms north of Fort Saskatchewan

EnCana Corporation $5,000,000.00 Deep Basin Development and Measurement of Marginal Zones Location: Encana’s Bighorn Area near Grande Cache

EnCana Corporation $1,830,000.00 Deep Tight Gas Horizontal Well Stimulation
Location: Encana’s Bighorn Area near Grande Cache

EnCana Corporation $1,550,000.00 Suffield Conventional Heavy Oil Chemical Flood
Location: Suffield Upper Mannville UU Pool

Husky Oil Operations Ltd. $5,000,000.00 Advanced Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) Process Using Surfactants Derived from Renewable Natural Resources
Location: Taber Field - Glauconitic K Pool - Township-Range: 9-16W4

Husky Oil Operations Ltd. $2,700,000.00 Rainbow Keg River O Pool Enhanced Gas Recovery
Location: Rainbow Lake (located approximately 132 km west of High Level)

Imperial Oil Resources $10,000,000.00 Cold Lake Solvent Assisted - SAGD Pilot
Location: Cold Lake Mahkeses

Laricina Energy Ltd. $4,300,000.00 Saleski Oil Sands Pilot Project - Phase 1
Athabasca Grosmont formation

Pengrowth Corporation $3,540,000.00 Quaternary Acid Gas Injection at Judy Creek BHL ‘A’ Pool
Location: Judy Creek Beaverhill Lake (BHL) ‘A’ Pool.

The projects will receive royalty adjustments totalling up to $41.5 million under the third round of Alberta Energy’s Innovative Energy Technologies Program (IETP). This is in addition to 16 projects previously announced.
The IETP offers royalty adjustments of up to $10 million per pilot project that demonstrates new or innovative technologies to increase environmentally sound recoveries of existing reserves and encourages responsible development of new oil, natural gas and in situ bitumen reserves. The total program value in terms of royalty adjustments is $200 million over five years.
http://alberta.ca/home/NewsFrame.cfm?ReleaseID=/acn/200905/259633FB95F8E-F374-022C-B935A1C0CD667B1F.html May 14, 2009

Earlier, in November 2007, these welfare projects were announced:

November 13, 2007
Province supports new projects to study innovative energy development

Edmonton... Two new and innovative projects that will explore environmentally sustainable ways to recover previously untapped energy resources have been given the green light thanks to an investment by the Alberta government.

Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. $10,000,000.00 Whitesands Experimental Project
Location: Whitesands Insitu Ltd.’s oil sands lease, approximately 13 km west of Conklin, Alberta

Penn West Energy Trust (PWET) $6,471,000.00 South Swan Hills Unit CO2Pilot Project
Location: 175 km NW of Edmonton

http://www.alberta.ca/acn/200711/2250939D9C594-D9A6-E37D-49ED8132765BE7B6.html May 14, 2009

And on March 20, 2007:
March 20, 2007
Province supports three innovative energy projects
Edmonton... Three innovative energy projects may generate new ways to recover previously untapped energy resources, thanks to support from the Alberta government.
Canadian Natural Resources
Limited (CNRL) $1,143,000.00 Brintnell Field Horsetail Polymer Flood Pilot
Location: Brintnell, 25km NE of Wabasca-Desmarais

EnCana Oil and Gas Partnership $5,250,000.00 Air Re-pressuring at Christina Lake for production of SAGD bitumen
Location: Christina Lake, 20km east of Conklin, Alberta

Petro-Canada $1,440,000.00 Steam and Gas Push (SAGP) Process for Bitumen Production using Produced Gases and an Ejector
Location: MacKay River SAGD Oil Sands Project

http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200703/21202702FA0F1-9BCE-1A74-648BF124BC63A702.html May 14, 2009

And much more…
November 4, 2005
Revised
Projects will advance the development of province's energy resources
Edmonton... Thirteen pilot and demonstration projects that will advance technology to aid in the development of existing and new oil, natural gas and in-situ reserves were announced under round one of Alberta Energy's Innovative Energy Technologies Program (IETP).
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) $ 1,084,200.00 Brintnell Field Horsetail Polymer Flood Pilot
Location: Brintnell - 25km NE of Wabasca-Desmarais - TWP 81 RNG 22 W4M

ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp. $10,000,000.00 Surmont SAGD Pilot
Location: Surmont Area 24 TWP 83 RGE 7 W4M

Deer Creek Energy Limited $ 5,708,570.00 Deer Creek Josylyn Low Pressure SAGD Project Phase I
Location: 75km North of Ft. McMurray - TWP 95 RGE 12 W4

EnCana Oil and Gas Partnership $1,368,000.00 Vapor Extraction Recovery (Vapex) at the Suffield Upper Mannville A Pool
Location: Suffield Upper Mannville A Pool - TWP 19, RGE 7 W4

EnCana Oil and Gas Partnership $ 4,170,000.00 EnCAID - EnCana's Air Injection & Displacement Project for Gas-over-Bitumen Gas
Location: Cold Lake Air Weapons Range - TWP 73 RGE 6 W4M

EnCana Oil and Gas Partnership $ 152,703.00 Low Pressure Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) Artificial Lift Bench Scale Testing Program
Location: Lab Demonstration- Edmonton

Husky Oil Operations Limited $10,000,000.00 Taber S Mannville B Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (Warner ASP) Flood
Location: Taber South Mannville B Pool - TWP 7 RGE 16 W4

MGV Energy Inc. $ 7,000,000.00 Mannville Horizontal Natural Gas From Coal (NGC) Project
Location: Bittern Lake/Wood River (roughly SE of Leduc 12- 30 miles)

Applicant: MGV Energy Inc. $ 6,750,000.00 MGV Horizontal Natural Gas From Shale (NGS) Project
Location: TBA

Paramount Resources Ltd. and
ConocoPhillips Canada Resources Corp $ 3,594,000.00 Surmount Gas Re-Injection & Production Experiment (GRIPE) Pilot
Location: Chard McMurray "AAA" and "X" pools - TWP 81 RGE 5 and 6 W4M

Paramount Resources Limited $ 38,400.00 Surmount Wabiskaw-McMurray Gas Pool Production and Shut-in Pressure Data Analysis
Location: Surmount - TWP 80 RGE 5 to TWP 84 RGE 8 W4M

Paramount Resources Limited $ 48,000.00 Bitumen De-methanization Lab Demonstration Project
Location: Lab Demonstration

Suncor Energy Inc. $ 4,500,000.00 Low Pressure SAGD Artificial Lift Pilot
Location: Firebag East, TWP 95 RGE 6 W4M

http://www.gov.ab.ca/acn/200511/190255CE640C5-F833-1CD3-0BE714C3FD7FC08F.html May 14, 2009