The oil industry just can鈥檛 catch a break. The Fort McMurray fires have had the biggest impact on oil production in Canada probably in generations. While, as of the time of writing, none of the major oilsands projects had burned, a noticeable chunk of Fort McMurray went up in flames, as did one camp. The fire appeared to be circling back towards the Syncrude and Suncor facilities.
Locally, Redvers once again hosted its Redvers Oil and District Showcase May 12-13. Held every second year, opposite of the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn, it鈥檚 a great little show that really highlights the local industry and the businesses that work in it. The businesses and community of Redvers pull together unbelievably well.
While the inside displays seemed to be all used, the outdoor displays were substantially down from previous years. There were no service rigs, no coil tubing units, and a lot fewer trucks.
This past spring has been one of the most beautiful I can recall. We had temperatures in the high-20s Celsius range the week before. The week after, it hit 29 C. But on the two days of the show, it was most miserable weather the region had had all season. The winds were so strong and biting that on the second day, after I walked to the arena, I parked my camera bag, turned around and went back to my SUV to add on three more layers of clothes. Someone even noticed I pulled out my Red Baron -30 C work gloves, just in case.
As a result of the cold, wind and a bit of moisture, very, very few people wandered the outdoor booths, at least whenever I ventured out. For those vendors, surely it must have been a disappointment.
You can tell the strength of an industry by the swag it hands out at its trade shows. This year, I saw no Frisbees, T-shirts, golf shirts, jackets, stainless steel Contigo travel mugs or water bottles. Most booths, if they had any giveaways at all, handed out pens 鈥� and not the fancy, individually packaged ones, either. In other cases, it was just candy. A few had stress balls. Maybe a few hats were handed out, but I didn鈥檛 notice them.
I talked to at least half the booths. What most people told me was that their staff was down by 50 per cent, or more. It is really tough. Obviously this is why the outdoor booth count was diminished compared to previous years.
One person whose firm employed 30 people at a peak, two years ago, was down to five. He expects that the industry is going to lose 25 to 50 per cent of its labour force, and a lot of those people are not going to want to come back.
This paper has always tried to focus on the positive in this industry. The nasty weather was an apt metaphor for the pervasive doom and gloom. Even though oil was around US$45 per barrel that week, no one had their hopes up for a substantial uptick in business any time soon. You would think that US$45 is better than US$26, and it is, but there hasn鈥檛 been much activity to reflect it.
It鈥檚 no surprise the Ritchie Bros. big spring auction at Nisku was truly massive 鈥� expanding from three days to five to accommodate all the lots.
To top it all off, the Ontario Liberal government now figures new houses built there after 2030 should use electricity and not natural gas.
Please, please, let this industry catch a break.听
听
Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at [email protected].
