For the first time in more than five years, no Canadian province ranked in the top 10 most-attractive jurisdictions for oil and gas investment in the Fraser Institute’s annual global survey of petroleum-sector executives. And for the second straight year, Alberta and British Columbia ranked as the least-attractive jurisdictions in Canada for oil and gas investment. Meanwhile, nine U.S. states rank in the top 10 including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Wyoming, North Dakota, Alabama, Montana and Louisiana. “Onerous regulations, higher taxes and a lack of pipeline capacity are taking their toll on Canada’s energy sector, and as a result, investors are looking elsewhere to invest,” the Fraser Institute’s Kenneth Green said in a statement. This year, B.C. was the lowest-ranked Canadian province at 58th (out of 80) on the Policy Perception Index, a measure of the extent policy deters oil and gas investment. Crucially, 80 per cent of respondents cited the high costs of regulatory compliance in B.C., and 81 per cent cited political instability in the province as deterrents to investment. Alberta ranked 43rd this year—a significant drop from its 2014 ranking of 14th worldwide—and the province continues to decline in investment attractiveness. Specifically, almost 60 per cent of […]
