The Narwhal previously looked at royalties paid by four of the Big 5 — Suncor, Cenovus, Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Imperial Oil — and found they collected $10.14 billion in profits in 2017, while Albertans collected $2.37 billion in the form of royalty payments.

Using ESTMA data, The Narwhal found that Alberta’s collections from the major oil companies amounted to a royalty rate of approximately 23 per cent, while other countries in the world see government returns that are much higher — including Saudi Arabia (85 per cent), Norway (78 per cent), China (63.5 per cent) and Australia (58 per cent)