Estevan 鈥� Export pipelines and investment are the top two issues for Brad Bennett, vice president of operations and a partner in Estevan-based Sun Country Well Servicing.
Asked on Sept. 19 what are the issues facing the oilpatch in this federal election, he said, 鈥淭he biggest issue is trying to get rid of our oil. The second biggest problem is we don鈥檛 have any investors that want to come into Saskatchewan anymore because we can鈥檛 get rid of our oil. No one wants to invest in Saskatchewan, Alberta, or anywhere.
鈥淲e need to export it at a decent dollar. In southeast Saskatchewan, we can get rid of our oil a lot better, but the biggest problem is nobody wants to come in and invest in Saskatchewan. On the federal side, we鈥檝e pushed everybody out. We鈥檝e scared everybody. We鈥檙e getting no pipelines. We鈥檙e going green. We鈥檙e getting rid of our coal. The carbon tax is not helping anyone, either. I haven鈥檛 added it up, what the carbon tax is going to cost me at the end of the year, but I鈥檓 sure it鈥檚 going to be a substantial increase,鈥� Bennett said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to hurt the industry, too. We鈥檙e just barely trying to keep our doors open as we go through this downturn. This has been going on since 2014, so it鈥檚 the longest downturn we鈥檝e ever had. We鈥檙e not getting any help from the federal government. Our provincial government can only do so much.鈥�
鈥淚 think what we need to do is keep more of our money in Canada, helping Canada,鈥� he said, noting we should be spending so much money on foreign aid around the world.
鈥淢y biggest concern is we don鈥檛 have any investors left coming into Canada, into the oil industry. They鈥檙e all scared. You look at the U.S., and they鈥檙e just thriving. If Trump doesn鈥檛 get in, I don鈥檛 know, however.鈥�
North Dakota鈥檚 oil production dropped from 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in December 2014 to 942,000 in December 2016, but is now 1.44 million bpd, as of July 2019, according to the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.听
He noted that only three oil companies are doing a significant amount of work in southeast Saskatchewan.
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