ANALYSIS-Alberta royalty hike far cry from nationalization

(In U.S. dollars unless noted)

By Scott Haggett

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Alberta has just joined Venezuela, Russia, Kazakhstan and Bolivia as it looks to enjoy a bigger share of the cash windfalls coming from record high oil prices.

A wide swath of oil-producing regions have moved in the past months to take cash away from oil companies and put it into government coffers by raising royalties or taking over producing properties.

The long list includes Russia moving to take control of foreign-owned oil properties, the nationalization of natural-gas fields in Bolivia, Venezuela assuming majority control of heavy-oil projects and hiking its royalties, and Kazakhstan's bid to take a bigger stake in a massive oil field under the Caspian Sea.

But by those international standards, Alberta's announcement on Thursday that it would boost its take from the industry by about C$1.4 billion ($1.46 billion) a year, starting in 2009, was a very mild step -- even according to the critics of the new policy.

"We've not seen any kind of the expropriation or insularity" seen elsewhere, said Pierre Alvarez, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, which lobbies on behalf of big oil companies.

ALBERTA'S SHARE

Ecuador moved this month to tax 99 percent of windfall profits for oil companies operating there, a measure estimated to cost producers in the South American country $830 million.