Alberta had its first fiscal surplus in seven years after oil and gas prices surged in the first months of the year.
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To see other videos from our team, click here. The province completed its first surplus in seven years on the oil-price surge on March 31 with a surplus of $3.9 billion after West Texas Intermediate crude traded at an average price of US $77 a barrel, US $31 more than budgeted, according to documents released Monday. Oil and gas royalties, which were $16.2 billion, or $13.3 billion more than budgeted, were non-renewable resource revenue. Alberta's energy-based economy — its oilsands hold the world's third largest oil reserves — has emerged from the pandemic with the most robust economic growth in years thanks to the windfall of royalty and tax revenue. During the last month of the fiscal year, oil prices were above US $100 a barrel after the Russian invasion of Ukraine caused countries to shun Russian oil. The budget for the 2022 -- 2023 year was presented by the government in March, which included the first surplus since 2014.