North Alberta key to provincial land grab

Gary Park

Northern Alberta, dominated by the oil sands region, has been instrumental in pushing the province’s sales of exploration lands to new heights this year.

With three sales still remaining, the Alberta government has collected C$1.56 billion from successful bids on 6.38 million acres, compared with C$907 million on 6.47 million acres at the same time last year.

The northern regions have accounted for C$815 million, C$348 million ahead of the year-ago total, with oil sands returns soaring to C$295 million from C$17.8 million. Top bid in the latest sale, which generated C$64 million, was made by Canadian Coastal Resources. It paid C$2.14 million for 3,160 acres in a lightly explored area of east-central Alberta where a new pool wildcat has been drilled by Navigo Energy.