B.C. Government Admits $1.5 Billion Budget Error in Natural Gas Royalty Projections

The B.C. government has acknowledged making an error in its latest budget, underestimating natural gas royalty revenues by nearly $1.5 billion over the next five years.

This admission came after Business in Vancouver published an investigation that calculated the province had overstated expected natural gas royalty revenues by roughly $500 million per year.

The Office of the Premier attributed the error to an 'administrative error' related to its natural gas price forecast, stating it would drop forecasted gas royalties by an average of $292 million per year over five years. This is more than 40% short of the estimate reported by BIV and on the extreme low end of what independent experts have calculated.

The new royalty system, set to roll out in January 2027, aims to capture a larger share of fossil fuel profits extracted from Crown land. However, experts say the government's explanation for the error is 'incomplete and confusing', with some questioning the legitimacy of the $292-million-per-year correction.