Canadian Energy Industry in 2020: Oil Prices and Climate Issues to Tackle

According to current data, Canada is ranked the 7th largest oil producing country in the world. Like all oil producing nations, Canada is subject to the market fluctuations that are typical of a globally traded commodity, but there are some unique aspects that can have an impact on the price.

For example, Canada is currently experiencing severe winter weather conditions and this has made the transportation of oil extremely difficult. A mixture of capacity restraints and slow transportation issues, has resulted in a significant drop in the price of Western Canadian Select oil.

There has been a global drop over the last week, as geopolitical tensions begin to cool down somewhat, but the weather is having a specific effect on Canadian oil that typically ships to the United States in the form of sour crude. 

Prices are bound to continue to fluctuate over the coming weeks and months. Not only because world events rapidly unfold these days, but weather-related issues caused by harsh winter conditions, will slowly begin to ease as Spring approaches. The current harsh conditions seem to fly in the face of reported climate change impacts, but the challenges are well documented.

It’s possible that Canada’s Eastern Atlantic coastal areas could experience the greatest changes. Rising sea temperatures here, could change the fragile balance of ecosystems beyond what is currently considered normal. There are also comprehensive studies being conducted on sea ice and the impact on ocean levels around Canada.

Whilst many topics around climate change are contentious, or are the cause of division and argument amongst the nations of the world, most people would agree that reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, could help slow down the effects of global warming. But this is not going to be an overnight project, by any stretch of the imagination and whilst it may be highly desirable to begin scaling back on oil, gas and coal, there is bound to be industry resistance.

With the greatest will in the world (both commercial and political), the industries that extract, process and transport fossil fuels will have to be managed for some time to come. Companies responsible for these assets, will already have a schedule for decommissioning and in many cases, it will be impossible to accelerate this process in a safe and environmentally secure fashion.

 In the meantime, jobs in the oil and gas industry will continue to be cyclical in nature. These industries have always hired and fired on a boom and bust mentality and there’s no reason to think that that is going to change in the near future. Canadians who work in these fields will understand this and like many others, people will follow the booms whilst trying to dodge the busts! It’s a truly global market.

What will be of interest to many, is whether action on climate change will bring opportunities for new jobs, or push vast numbers of highly skilled people onto the scrap heap. Green energy will still require skilled engineers and people with offshore experience, but how this will impact the workforce in Canada specifically, is currently unknown.

The challenges facing the world are huge right now, but Canada with it’svast and incredibly varied environment, faces a potentially unique set of threats to not only it’s ecosystems, but to the livelihoods of many of its citizens.