The Alberta Energy Regulator is releasing their 2023 Alberta Energy Report.

The annual publication offers an independent and comprehensive look into the state of Alberta’s energy economy.

The regulator says Alberta remains Canada’s largest oil and gas producer accounting for over 80 per cent of Canada’s oil output and over 60 per cent of Canada’s natural gas.

There is ongoing growth in our energy sector including oil sands, conventional oil, and natural gas.

Capital expenditure is also up significantly.  In 2022, buoyed by high energy prices, companies worked to expand production and boost revenues. The report says companies used additional cash on hand to increase capital spending while reducing debt, buying back stocks, and increasing shareholder dividends.

The regulator notes that there was significant disruption to the natural gas supply in Europe in 2022 causing demand pressures for this commodity and reshaping the trade flows globally.

The consequence of this disruption was the price for natural gas increasing to an average of US$6.52 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2022, a 75 per cent increase from the previous year.

The total production of oil and equivalent continued to set new records with favourable market prices in 2022. The production increase mainly came from nonupgraded bitumen, followed by light and medium crude oil.

The report anticipates sustained growth in the traditional energy sector and is projecting some expansion in emerging energy products like lithium and geothermal.