Much ado for show
As I predicted, the oil industry, despite complaining bitterly and warning of horrific consequences should the Alberta government have the gall to ask that they give Albertans a greater share of the profits from Alberta's oil, all but ignored the announcement of the new royalty regime.
Some energy stocks defied expectations by gaining value Friday, a day after Alberta introduced a controversial increase to the fees charged to oil and gas companies in the province.
. . .
Enbridge, which operates the world's longest crude oil pipeline system, gained just over two per cent, while Talisman Energy slipped by only 0.41 per cent.
Other big oil and gas companies, including Suncor and EnCana, slipped slightly, but the declines did not come close to the bloodbath some analysts projected. The TSX energy index finished up 0.23 per cent.
With oil up over $90/barrel, and no real prospects for a major decline, (in price if not in supply, and more on that later), there was no real prospect that these guys were suddenly going to decide it just wasn't worth it to keep pumping the oil.
Still gotta love this comment from the Canoe.ca story:
Wilf Gobert, an independent energy analyst, rejects any suggestion that the initial reaction from the energy industry was "knee-jerk."
"It's ridiculous and intellectually dishonest to be saying that a CEO doesn't know what he's talking about. They represent billions of dollars of shareholder value," he said in an interview while golfing outside of Calgary.
In related news, I'm reading, "The Dilbert Principle".
