Date:	Wednesday February 25, 2004
Time:	9:20 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. (refreshments and lunch provided)
New Location:	Simon Fraser University Downtown Campus 515 West Hastings Street, Terasen Room (Rm 1800, Ground Floor) Vancouver, BC

Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA), KPMG High Technology Practice Group and PTAC Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada invite you to attend a Technical Working Group forum designed to provide valuable information about federal and provincial incentives for innovation in BC's oil, gas and unconventional gas industry. This forum is co-sponsored by the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, the BC Oil and Gas Commission and the University of British Columbia (UBC).

BACKGROUND
The SR&ED Program is a federal tax incentive program set up to encourage Canadian businesses of all sizes and in all sectors to conduct R&D in Canada that will lead to new, improved or technologically advanced products, services or processes. It is the single largest source of federal government support for industrial research and development. The Program provides investment tax credits (ITCs) of up to 35% of qualifying SR&ED expenditures. ITCs so earned can be carried forward for up to 10 years, and used to offset income taxes payable. The October 2003 session explained the suite of services available to stakeholders and users of the SR&ED Program.

BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS
This forum will provide valuable information to oil and gas executives, engineers, accountants, R&D services providers, regulatory agencies, tax practitioners, service companies, funding agencies and legal firms on royalties and other fiscal incentives available to oil, and gas companies in BC, and particularly the exploitation of BC's unconventional gas resources. Participants will hear from experts from the CCRA, the Government of BC, UBC, as well as representatives from the oil and gas industry. The forum will be valuable to upstream and downstream companies and oilfield service providers.