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

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The latest survey was issuedc June 24. It’s been conducted annually for three yeares by the Fraser Institutein Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Arizona was left off the list for lack of The survey ranks statexs as well asother countries. The firsy survey, in 2007, ranked Colorado at the top of the list of placese executives considered positively for oil and gas By 2008, the state’s rankin g had fallen to No. 52 out of 81 locatione around the world. The June 2008 surveg said executives had grown wary ofthe state’e efforts to tighten rules governing oil and gas operations The new rules took effect April 1.
This the survey received 577 responses and coveredr 143 jurisdictions around the Coloradoranked No. 81, below California and and above the Canadian province of Newfoundlandx and Labrador and the nationof Greenland. All threde surveys by the institute solicitedanonymous responses. According to the institute’z report, the 10 most attractive jurisdiction for investmentthis year, according to the survey, are: Arkansas, Alabama, Austria, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, and Indiana. The 10 leas attractive jurisdictions for investmenftare Bolivia, Niger, Venezuela, Ecuador, Sudan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.
Respondents ranked states and countries by investmeny barriers such as hightax rates, costly regulatorty schemes, and security threats, among other Scores were based on the proportion of negatives response a jurisdictio n received; the greater the proportion of negativ e responses, the greater the perceiver investment barriers and therefore the lowedr the jurisdiction ranked, accordinvg to the survey report. The report said investoras listed several reasons for shiftiny investments to other ranging from hightax rates, labor or costly and time-consuming regulations.
The surveyu quoted an unnamed executive sayintg thatin Colorado, legal, and air quality rules and regulations are being instituteds at a dizzying pace. It is hard to keep up with as an Most of the regulators instituting and enforcing these new rules have little or no experiencew in the industry and do notunderstand operations. Oftenn they cannot answer questionsor help, even with theird own rules.” Colorado’s new oil and gas regulatione were backed by Gov. Bill Ritter and environmenta l groups as needed toprotect Colorado’s wildlife, environment and public healtb assets.
The new rules have been opposedf byindustry executives, who have said they will raise the costds of operating in Colorado. “This studg demonstrates the harsh reality of an inconsistentregulatoryg regime, and these numbers run contrary to the beliet of some policy makers that Colorado’sx energy industry will grow no matter the constraints placed upon said Meg Collins, presidenyt of the Colorado Oil Gas Association, in a statement.
But Theo spokesman for the Colorado Department ofNaturaol Resources, which oversees the agency that regulatez oil and gas operations, pointe d to Colorado investments by big energy companies such as interested in gettinfg at the state’s natural gas. ExxonMobio announced June 22 it had doubled its natural gas processinvg capacity on the Western Slope and planned to drill more wellsa in the area over the nextseveral “Actions speak louder than words,” Stein said. “Some of the largest North American and global energy companiex are busy working and investinvin Colorado’s future. They are planninvg to be here producing clean-burning naturak gas for decades.
” But state Rep. Frank R-Highlands Ranch, said companies like ExxonMobil have the money neededs to complywith Colorado’e new rules. “They can absor b the higher costs of productiohn that are associated with the oil and gas McNulty said. “But what the Rittet administration has done is priced outthe mid- and small-leve companies that were looking to do business in The Fraser Institute is a think tank and research center that advocates “a free and prosperous world through markets and responsibility.” .