Western Canada land grab fetches record $1.7 billion

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

Sales of government-owned lands in Canada’s three dominant oil and natural gas producing provinces pumped a record C$1.7 billion into the revenue stream, led by a staggering year in British Columbia.

Alberta finished the year at C$904.02 million, its fifth best year in the last decade and close to its 1997 high of C$1.15 billion; British Columbia raked in C$646.68 million, beating the 2001 record by C$192 million; and Saskatchewan notched its second-best year at C$158.74 million.

Final figures are not yet compiled for Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Canada’s North, although Nova Scotia’s only sale attracted C$14.1 million and the Northwest Territories fetched a mere C$1.1 million from a May sale.

Operators in Alberta acquired 7.76 million acres, including about 3 million acres of Plains lands dominated by shallow-gas plays, 4.3 million acres of northern lands, 285,615 acres of Foothills lands which feature deeper gas targets and 151,000 acres of oil sands parcels.

In 2002, spending in Alberta dropped to its lowest level in 10 years at C$501 million for 6.86 million acres.

Propelled by the C$418 million it raised in September — a record for a single sale in Canada — British Columbia set a new benchmark by more than doubling the average per-acre price from 2002, when buyers snapped up 2.1 million acres for C$288.47 million, compared with this year’s 2.03 million acres.

Saskatchewan cashed in on its sizzling gas plays by unloading 2.62 million acres for C$158.74 million, second only to its 1994 returns of almost C$200 million for 3.8 million acres. Last year, the province sold 1.6 million acres for C$103 million.

Saskatchewan Industry and Resources Minister Eric Cline said the industry’s “considerable investment” should be taken as a clear sign of confidence in the province.