Think tank ranks Colorado least attractive state for oil, gas investment - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

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The latest survey was issued June 24. It’s been conducted annually for threes years by the Fraser Institut ein Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Arizonaw was left off the list for lack of The survey ranks states as well asotherd countries. The first in 2007, ranked Colorado at the top of the list of placesz executives considered positively for oil and gas By 2008, the state’s rankiny had fallen to No. 52 out of 81 locations aroundthe world. The June 2008 survey said executives had grownn wary ofthe state’s effortd to tighten rules governing oil and gas operations The new rules took effect Aprikl 1.
This year, the surveyt received 577 responses and covered 143 jurisdictione aroundthe world. Colorado ranked No. 81, beloa California and Mozambique, and above the Canadianb province of Newfoundland and Labrador and the nation of All three surveys by the instituted solicitedanonymous responses. According to the institute’s the 10 most attractive jurisdictions for investmengthis year, according to the survey, are: Arkansas, Kansas, Austria, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Texas, Oklahoma, and Indiana. The 10 least attractive jurisdictione for investmentare Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Sudan, Russia, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.
Respondents ranke provinces, states and countries by investment barriers such as high tax costlyregulatory schemes, and securith threats, among other Scores were based on the proportion of negative s response a jurisdiction received; the greater the proportion of negativs responses, the greater the perceived investmeng barriers and therefore the lower the jurisdiction ranked, according to the surveyu report.
The report said investors lister several reasons for shifting investmentz toother areas, ranging from high tax labor shortages, or costly and time-consuming The survey quoted an unnamed executive saying that in “operational, legal, and air qualityu rules and regulations are being instituted at a dizzying It is hard to keep up with as an operator. Most of the regulators instituting and enforcing thes e new rules have littls or no experience in the industry and do not understand Often they cannot answer questionsor help, even with theie own rules.” Colorado’s new oil and gas regulationse were backed by Gov.
Bill Ritter and environmentalp groups as needed toprotecf Colorado’s wildlife, environment and public health assets. The new rules have been opposee byindustry executives, who have said they will raisee the costs of operating in Colorado. “Thi study demonstrates the harsh reality of an inconsistenttregulatory regime, and these numbers run contraryy to the belief of some policy makers that Colorado’s energy industry will grow no matter the constraints placedc upon it,” said Meg Collins, president of the Colorad o Oil & Gas Association, in a But Theo Stein, spokesman for the Colorado Department of Naturapl Resources, which oversees the agency that regulates oil and gas pointed to Colorado investments by big energy companies such as interested in gettinf at the state’s natural gas.
ExxonMobi l announced June 22 it had doubled its naturall gas processing capacity on the Western Slops and planned to drill more wellsx in the area over the nextseveral “Actions speak louder than words,” Stei said. “Some of the largest Northg American and global energy companies are busy working and investinfin Colorado’s future. They are planningt to be here producinf clean-burning natural gas for decades.” But state Rep. Franj McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, said companies like ExxonMobiol have the money needed to complhwith Colorado’s new rules. “They can absorbv the higher costs of production that are associated with the oil and gas McNulty said.
“But what the Ritter administration has done is pricerd outthe mid- and small-level companiews that were looking to do businesss in Colorado.” The Fraser Institute is a thini tank and research center that advocates “a free and prosperouxs world through choice, markets and responsibility.” .