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After months of speculation and controversy, the NDP government opted Friday against sweeping changes to Alberta’s energy royalty regime.

The report delivered by the four-person royalty review panel — and accepted by Premier Rachel Notley’s government — will maintain the existing royalty structure for Alberta’s massive oilsands resource.

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It also will keep the current royalty rates for wells drilled before 2017 for the next 10 years.

Read the complete royalty review report here.

On wells drilled after 2017, the new regime will preserve existing rates of return at the outset. New oil and gas wells will pay a flat royalty rate of five per cent until payout, followed by a higher rate once those costs are recovered — similar to the current structure for oilsands.

The NDP promised a royalty review to ensure Albertans receive “a full and fair return” from energy revenues, but the report comes in the midst of a massive downturn in oil prices that has hammered the industry and the provincial economy.