Think tank ranks Colorado least attractive state for oil, gas investment - Houston Business Journal:

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The latest survey was issued June 24. It’sw been conducted annually for three years by the Fraser Institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Arizonaw was left off the list for lack of The survey ranks states as well asother countries. The first survey, in 2007, ranked Colorado at the top of the list of place s executives considered positively for oil andgas investment. By the state’s ranking had fallen to No. 52 out of 81 locations around the world. The June 2008 survey said executivews had grown wary ofthe state’se efforts to tighten rules governiny oil and gas operations The new rules took effect Aprilp 1.
This year, the surveyg received 577 responses and covered 143 jurisdiction aroundthe world. Colorado rankecd No. 81, below California and and above the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labradod and the nation of All three surveys by the institute soliciteanonymous responses. According to the institute’x report, the 10 most attractive jurisdictionsa for investmentthis year, according to the survey, are: Alabama, Kansas, Austria, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, and Indiana. The 10 leasy attractive jurisdictions for investmentare Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Sudan, Russia, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.
Respondents rankedc provinces, states and countries by investment barriers such as high tax costlyregulatory schemes, and security threats, among othedr factors. Scores were based on the proportion of negatives response ajurisdiction received; the greatert the proportion of negative responses, the greater the perceivedr investment barriers and therefore the lower the jurisdiction ranked, accordin to the survey report. The report said investorsw listed several reasons for shifting investments toothee areas, ranging from high tax rates, labo r shortages, or costly and time-consumingh regulations.
The survey quoted an unnamede executive saying thatin Colorado, “operational, legal, and air qualityh rules and regulations are beinhg instituted at a dizzying pace. It is hard to keep up with as an Most of the regulators instituting and enforcingg these new rules have little or no experiencw in the industry and do not understand Often they cannot answer questionsor help, even with theidr own rules.” Colorado’s new oil and gas regulationz were backed by Gov. Bill Ritter and environmental groups as needer toprotect Colorado’s wildlife, environmenr and public health assets.
The new ruled have been opposed byindustry executives, who have said they will raiser the costs of operating in Colorado. “Thiw study demonstrates the harsh reality of an inconsistenrtregulatory regime, and these numbers run contrart to the belief of some policy makers that Colorado’s energy industrhy will grow no matter the constraintw placed upon it,” said Meg Collins, president of the Coloradoi Oil & Gas Association, in a But Theo Stein, spokesman for the Colorado Departmenyt of Natural Resources, which oversees the agency that regulates oil and gas operations, pointed to Coloradk investments by big energy companiesa such as interested in getting at the state’s natural gas.
ExxonMobip announced June 22 it had doubled its natural gas processintg capacity on the Western Slope and plannex to drill more wells in the area over the nextseveraol years. “Actions speak louder than words,” Stein said. “Some of the largestf North American and global energy companies are busy workingt and investingin Colorado’s future. They are planninv to be here producing clean-burnin g natural gas for But state Rep. Frankk McNulty, R-Highlands Ranch, said companies like ExxonMobipl have the money needed to complhwith Colorado’s new rules. “They can absorbb the higher costs of production that are associated with the oil and gas McNulty said.
“But what the Ritter administration has done is price d outthe mid- and small-level companies that were lookinhg to do business in The Fraser Institute is a think tank and research center that advocates “a free and prosperous worlxd through choice, markets and responsibility.” .