Check out how the government calculates tax on fuel and energy. Almost all the tax except HST/GST on top of all the other taxes are calculated on the volume, so they recieve the same amount no matter what the price is. Same for royalties most are calculated on volumes not prices, so government just ends up taking a bigger percentage. On top of that the government will likely add new taxes if the prices stay low (carbon tax anyone?) or as they are doing here in NS removing the home heating fuel rebate. One party you never need to worry about for constant funding is government.