Sales of Crown oil and gas drilling rights surge in B.C. and Alberta
CALGARY – Sales of Crown drilling rights in Alberta and B.C. have already delivered more money to provincial treasuries this year than last year, when they generated record low returns.
Oil and gas producers in Alberta have paid out a total of $138 million in drilling rights auctions so far this year, more than the $137 million they spent in all of 2016.
In British Columbia, they’ve spent $63 million, more than quadruple the $15 million last year.
The figures illustrate growing oilpatch confidence in light of stronger commodity prices this year as well as burgeoning production from Western Canadian shale oil and gas wells.