By Glory Przekop with files from The Canadian Press

GPPA president: Local oil/gas sector busy despite revised PSAC drilling forecast

Aug 1, 2018 | 7:58 AM

The local oil and gas sector remains busy despite the Petroleum Services Association of Canada cutting its 2018 Canadian drilling forecast by seven per cent.

President of the Grande Prairie Petroleum Association Rob Petrone says industry here hasn’t noticed a drop.

“Close to home activity levels are very similar to last year and development continues to happen not only from the drilling side but also there is some big capital projects in the books and construction underway to develop facilities to be able to get this product to market.”

He adds while companies are busy, there are many job vacancies not being filled.

“You could say Fox Creek right to Fort St. John there is a shortage of workers, we are seeing that and we are looking elsewhere in the province to bring talented workers into the area to help out. Grande Prairie is in a bit of a bubble, it is definitely different throughout the province such as Lloydminster, Red Deer.”

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

PSAC says 3,735 wells will be drilled in Alberta, down from 3,998 wells in its original Forecast.

The company also expects 6,900 oil and gas wells to be drilled this year, 200 fewer than were drilled in 2017, and nearly seven per cent less than its April forecast for 7,400.

PSAC CEO Tom Whalen says revenue numbers for the petroleum services sector are up this year compared to last year, due in part to producers drilling longer wells, but the number of wells is down by 200 through six months of 2018 compared with the same period of 2017.

He says service companies are reporting minimal improvement in earnings and many are continuing to lose money despite benchmark New York oil prices that rose from US$50.17 per barrel a year ago to close at US$70.13 on Monday.

Whalen says Canadian companies aren’t able to gain from higher world prices because pipeline capacity is inadequate to take products to market, resulting in higher-than-usual price discounts for western Canadian oil.

Meanwhile, natural gas prices continue to languish at levels that are often less than profitable thanks to competition from burgeoning U.S. shale gas plays.