Table of contents

Legislation

The Freehold Mineral Tax Act allows the collection of the Freehold Mineral Tax (FMT) for the Province’s general revenue fund, the Freehold Mineral Tax Regulation provides additional information.

FMT is:

  • An annual tax on petroleum and natural gas mineral rights within provincial boundaries, not owned by the Government of Alberta.
  • Assessed on revenue derived from production from freehold oil and gas properties.
  • Calculated annually on calendar year production collected in March of the following calendar year. Payment of the tax is due April 25.
  • Levied on each owner of a petroleum or natural gas mineral right as shown on the estate fee simple Certificate of Title.

Yearly FMT Cycle
Data is gathered on producing oil and gas wells on freehold lands from January to December.
Industry calculates and reports unit values on freehold properties with producing wells. If there are no industry submitted values, Crown calculated default values are used in the tax calculation.

Illustration of the Yearly FMT cycle (PDF, 38 KB) legislated dates are noted by * in the file.

Guides

These Unit Value Guides in PDF have been updated to clarify revenue and allowable costs. We encourage you to refer to these when calculating your unit values:

Freehold Mineral Tax Enhanced Oil Recovery Program Guide (PDF, 381 KB) for the enhanced oil recovery program.

See the summary of customer inquiries (PDF, 88 KB) for common questions.

History

Your family may own freehold mineral rights if they settled in Alberta in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s, about 8% of Alberta’s mineral rights are privately owned.

To learn how freehold owners obtained their mineral rights see mineral ownership.

FMT has been levied since 1938. The tax was introduced to provide freehold monies for the province’s regulatory body, the Alberta Energy Regulator. From 1938 - 1972 the tax was an acreage tax, assessed on petroleum, natural gas, coal and salt. Since 1973 coal and salt are no longer taxed. From 1973 to 1982 the tax was assessed based on reserves. The current FMT legislation was introduced in 1983.

Owners looking for more information can contact the Freehold Owners Association it  is a federally-incorporated, non-profit corporation registered to operate in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba that acts as a common voice in the interests of freehold owners. The Farmers' Advocateis also available for public information meetings on subjects such as surface rights, seismic activity, mineral leasing, trespass and other topics that may be of concern to the agricultural community.

Statistics

The following statistics pertain to wells and production in freehold mineral rights.

Table 1. Net Tax Levied (Calendar Year)

Year Gas Oil Total
2017 $8,308,511.91 $60,080,627.11 $68,389,139.02
2016 $6,301,328.40 $50,971,577.98 $57,272,906.38
2015 $14,504,359.75 $70,375,783.28 $84,880,143.03
2014 $30,601,736.43 $152,493,996.91 $183,095,733.34
2013 $19,666,566.79 $130,337,981.97 $150,004,538.76
2012 $20,931,414.38 $98,335,834.76 $119,267,249.14
2011 $45,144,986.52 $84,371,298.23 $129,516,284.75
2010 $60,251,675.61 $67,416,140.97 $127,667,816.58
2009 $77,464,994.59 $58,325,636.47 $135,790,631.06
2008 $197,101,452.48 $102,499,910.54 $299,601,363.02
2007 $184,666,625.63 $66,329,233.99 $250,995,859.62
2006 $256,959,091.46 $69,855,054.87 $326,814,146.33
2005 $262,990,325.38 $67,107,180.51 $330,097,505.89
2004 $220,990,315.94 $57,304,728.51 $278,295,044.45

Table 2. Freehold Wells (as of December 31);and Production (Calendar Year)

Year; Oil Wells; Oil
Production
(m3);		 Field Gas
Wells		 Field Gas
Production
(1000m3)
2017 12,149 7,139,706.0 46,726 14,198,857.4
2016 12,471 7,758,819.8 47,485 14,754,414.7
2015 13,673 9,047,960.4 47,959 15,951,141.7
2014 14,559 9,909,816.0 48,342 16,593,400.6
2013 14,789 9,756,584.1 48,608 16,958,031.3
2012 14,713 9,194,890.9 48,987 18,500,457.4
2011 14,233 8,299,433.2 49,394 20,643,004.6
2010 12,555 7,108,004.8 48,060 22,186,240.3
2009 12,505 7,367,874.1 47,387 23,254,081.4
2008 12,207 7,661,557.4 45,811 25,341,470.6
2007 12,865 8,317,844.6 44,046 28,204,021.8
2006 13,114 7,689,311.5 41,409 26,570,423.0
2005 12,908 8,109,017.8 36,833 27,255,853.1
2004 12,939 8,536,001.9 32,274 27,134,657.1

Contact

Connect with the FMT help desk:

Hours: 8:15 am to 4:30 pm (open Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays)
Phone: 780-427-6000
Toll free: 310-0000 before the phone number (in Alberta)
Fax: 780-427-0865
Email: [email protected]

7th Floor, North Petroleum Plaza
9945 108 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 2G6

Related

Land Titles Office