According to the Calgary Herald Sep 29,2009

CALGARY - Alberta's natural gas industry is unlikely to return to its former prominence in the provincial economy, leaving a gap that will have to be filled through diversification, a report said Monday.

Already reeling from a precipitous drop in prices, the province's natural gas industry faces major long-term challenges amid a glut of new supplies, according to the report by TD Economics.

And after fuelling government surpluses with royalty windfalls, the dramatic shift in Alberta's natural gas industry poses major threats to the entire economy, the report said, with the province already facing a deficit of nearly $7 billion this year.

"That's the worry: how quickly that geological advantage has turned into a disadvantage," said Derek Burleton, the bank's director of economic analysis and author of the report.

"The concern--and rightly so--is that this could persist. This just isn't a one-or two-year thing."