The Alberta Natural Gas Reference Price is a representative market price for natural gas bought and sold within the province, calculated using a simplified netback model. The Natural Gas Reference Price is a critical input into the valuation of the Crown’s royalty volume. Natural gas consumption for the average rural consumer in Alberta is 272 gigajoules (GJs) per year, as compared to consumption of 120 GJs per year for the average urban residential consumer. Rural consumption, however, may be significantly higher for larger operations such as farming, ranching, poultry and pork facilities, grain drying, irrigation, and Hutterite Colonies.