You know they cringed just having to write about this at the CBC;
The company developing oilsands in Saskatchewan’s northwest says it’s found four times more oil than it had estimated a year ago.
Oilsands Quest says it’s located as much as 6.5 billion barrels on property it’s exploring along the northern Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Most of the property is on the Saskatchewan side of the border.
(Previous – A friendly reminder for Stephane Dion.)
On a related note;
Red-hot Saskatchewan will grow at a 4.2 per cent clip, while Manitoba’s economy will expand by 3.6 per cent in 2008, the Conference Board estimated. Their results are being driven by high oil and gas prices and soaring demand for those provinces’ grain crops.
“Attention this year has shifted away from Alberta to Saskatchewan and Manitoba, as high prices for nearly all of their natural resources will make them the two fastest-growing economies in Canada,” said Glen Hodgson, the Conference Board of Canada’s chief economist.
I know I’ve said this before, but let me do so again – Thank you, Ed Stelmach!
Oooh, OilSands Quest. Sounds familiar.
If you ever see one of their engineering drawings and their logo looks crappy, it was probably my fault.
I could say more but I honestly don’t remember.
Don’t worry Alberta — Gary Doer will ensure that Manitoba doesn’t capitalize on our growth.
if Dion comes to power and imposes a carbon tax and ruins Saskatchewan’s economy and growth, then a class action lawsuit by the people of Sask. against Dion and the Federal Liberal party would be an option.
Instead of open pit mining, Oilsands Quest is planning an in situ project
The technical term is SAGD, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage. It relies on horizontal drilling to get to the deposits because the overburden is too great in some areas.
Unfortunately, some dumb worms (the ones too stupid to crawl away) probably die during the process, but that’s OK. PETA hasn’t expanded their scope of indignation to include slimy, icky critters yet.
I guess those who figured that Alberta was rich only because we had oil will have to eat their words. Congratulations Sask on voting in a government that – like Alberta’s – is open for business!!
With Alberta’s oil sands and now Sask coming on line the center of the universe (Ont& que) will be slobbering and waiting for their ENTITLEMENTS
Kate, a while back you posted a map – oil and gas fields along the AB SASK border.
The dying dinosaurs knew where the political border would be.
I will echo YukonGold.
Dont worry, Saskatchewan will be all alone in its growth explosion.
Gary Doer and his commie party are busy trying to destroy Mb’s hog industry with their expansion ban in effect. Not to mention that soon farmers will not be allowed to crop any low-lying areas of their land without asking Gary for permission.
I’m not sure what the NDP have in store for the oil industry but i’m sure they haveing something nasty planned.
Ed Stelmach has nothing to do with it. Saskatchewan still has oil and gas reserves because 30 years of socialist governments ensured almost no development. Alberta’s conventional reserves are mostly depleted, and all we have left is oilsands and foothills gas.
I hope you manage your resources better than Alberta did. I’ve begun shifting my business into Sask. in the last year, and it looks very promising. Now if I can only convince my family to move, I’ll be all set.
One thing to keep in mind. It would be wise to sell to our neighbours than to China. Do us all a favour and point those pipelines south, not west.
Regarding the comments that real estate is over priced in Sask by over 50%, think long and hard as to the last time you ever heard the national media making the comment that real estate in Oshawa/Toronto/Golden Triangle was over priced.
In fact, they do quite the opposite and boast openly that Toronto’s house prices are/were the highest in the nation, except for maybe the British Properties.
Apparently only a self-proclaimed ‘world class’ city is allowed to be over-priced in Canada.
Gee, we’re going to suffocate from all the sour grapes coming out of Central Canada if we’re not careful.
Congrats Sask. I am hoping that the Sask Party stays in power for years to come. If the “NDP” are elected in four years I think that the oil companies will shelf a lot of Sask’s future oil plans.
Yep, I have been telling people for years that oil has been secondary to Alberta’s success. The primary reason was a business friendly government; business came in, put people to work, and the province prospered. Now we have a chance to steal some of that thunder. Well, I guess not exactly steal, Stelmach kind of left the thunder on the front lawn with a “FREE” sign on it…
If we can get 3 consecutive pro-business governments in this province, we may just be set for decades of prosperity. However, like the surge in Iraq, our progress to this point is fragile and easily reversible. It would probably take only 3 hours of NDP government to undo 4 years of Brad Wall prosperity.
Stelmach’s royalty grab killed the foothils gas exploration plays out here in the peace. He has driven money, equipment and ingenuity away. They have moved into SK, and NE BC. Stelmach effectively took 1.5 billion out of the pockets of Albertans and put it into the AB treasury, which in turned used it to pay off the teachers unfunded liability in their pension plan, of which the teachers themselves were responsible for. Look at the decrease in home owner equity since the announcement was made and you can see how the transfer of wealth has occurred.
But it worked like a charm. He got his majority while calling an election before spring breakup knowing full well the 250,000 oilpatch workers would be too busy to notice while trying to finish out the winter drilling activity season. Proof is in the less than 50% turnout for voters. Now all our eggs are in the oilsands basket, a great big bullseye painted in the NW corner of AB for all the enviro groups and those of the entitlement persuasion to focus their intensity on.
Way to go $telmach, I wish I never picked you as my second choice for leader of the AB PC party when I voted for Morton. Jim Dinning would have been a far better 2nd choice pick. Ed was more concerned about being popular like Danny Williams than being a protector of the Alberta economy.
I hate to keep harping on this but all we can do is export the stuff; we have no ability to actually make the stuff usable domestically.
“Another key concern is the lack of refinery capacity available in Canada to absorb the increased production expected over the next ten to 15 years. The number of refineries has declined over the last two decades. As a result, refining capacity is now approximately 2 million b/d and, in 2002 and 2003, refineries operated at just over 90% of their capacity–leaving little room for increased production. While Canada is able to export unrefined crude to the United States and other locations, the lack of refining capacity within the country will limit the ability of Canadian oil firms to demand premium prices.”
http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/17/cz_0217oxan_canadaoil.html
The other noteworthy info in the above article was the heads-up on the (further)infiltration of China into our economy. This would be another matter if China were a firm ally of Canada but let’s get real here.
We buy total shite from Walmart~China and they use the profits to buy up our resources and industries. They then leverage those to further weaken our competitiveness making us even more dependent on China’s products.
Leaving strategic resources to private enterprises to manage is such a good idea…
You mean to say that dreary old Manitoba is going to grow in spite of our dopey crew of dolts sitting in the Winnipeg leg.? wow
Heh; my point illustrated perfectly! Canada’s Olympic team dressed in goofy togs, bought from a foreign owned company, and made in China. Said foreign owned company once the flagship of Canadian retail, it’s ‘Made in Canada’ label once a guarantee of quality and longevity. Sad times.
When ever I see a percentage, I ask percent of what.
http://tinyurl.com/67qdzx (Statscan)
What’s bigger, 3.6 percent of a tart or 2.6 percent of a pie?
Don’t worry Glenn, the royalty structure will be re-worked sometime this winter. the Stelmach govt. made a huge mistake by listening to the self loathers aka MSM and the stinking lieberals here in Alberta. I know one of the elected members who stood up in caucus and said “Hey boys, who won the election and by how much, now lets start running this province right again.” {proves once again, don’t listen to the self hating 1500 dollar a month reporters and their snivilling syphocants the Lieberals. The bulk of these stinking lieberals are just like their idols, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Stepon Dion, Peeair turdeau etc. what zeros they are.
ural; this’s a decent blog here, son; no tarts allowed! 🙂
Good out of Manitoba,you bet.
B T O
“If we can get 3 consecutive pro-business governments in this province,”
As long as the economy keeps trucking along, Saskatchewan’s population will grow, thus putting the percentage of public union employees into a slide. For the NDP to be relevant in Saskatchewan the percentage of public union employees cannot drop below 30. This is why the former governments did nothing to prevent generation ‘X’ from migrating out. Keeping the population under 1 000 000 was/is the NDP’s main priority, they MUST maintain the aforementioned ratio.
In the end, lowering the corporate tax rate brought investment, jobs and people to Saskatchewan. This was the crucial mistake made by the NDP, and most probably the self-administered suicide pill.
So there you have it: What is good for Saskatchewan is bad for the NDP.
We can vote out a provincial government when their objectives work contrary to those of the people of that province. The real threat to prosperity is the government we can not vote out. The government that doesn’t represent us, yet controls our purse strings. The government that turns its back on our allies and extend a hand to our enemies. The government that turns its back on women and children, yet bends over backward to rehabilitate pedophiles and rapists. The government that doesn’t pay funeral costs for the families of fallen soldiers, but won’t kick foreign war dodgers out of the country. The government that gave us the bird.
No lectures from down east please.
I went last year… airconditioned homes (200 amp electrical panels), and drivers on hwy 401 that never drove under 120 kmh. Energy hogs in other words.
I told everyone this guy was the Harry Strom of the political day. That voting ethnically would be a disaster. So it has come to pass. The train wreck of the PC party has lift off. Next stop obscurity.
Look for a spike in the Wild Rose party next election, or if they get there act together maybe the new Government. I base this on the fact that most young people I meet & middle aged, are talking ( mostly yelling these days) about voting ABC (Anything but conservative) . The Wild Rose party gets lots of sympathy from Libertarians & Conservatives, its just there so unknown.
The Conservatives are just an empty piñata of air. They took all the money & ran. Feathered there nest to such an extent, they have no real connection with working people anymore. There a class unto themselves, & I for one am sick of this, with the enveloping airs of the pampered aristocrat only they are infallible. They may have had a chance with Morton. Now that’s over its time to bury them proper in their gold caskets of entitlement.
I wish the best for Saskatchewan, please go the Alaska route when using this for the people of your province. It just ended up in the usual pockets here. Meaning the party faithful.
Sorry Glenn, you’re wrong all the way around. Resource development in Alberta is continuing roughly as fast as we can find people to do it, royalties notwithstanding. Dinning would have been even worse than an admittedly bad Ed Strom. The added revenues to the Alberta treasury would have gone to corporate profits and been spread all over the continent and indeed the world, not kept in Alberta the way they are now. The teachers fiasco is irrelevant to the topic at hand and is a clumsy misdirection.
Kate, if you feel Ed is in any way responsible for Saskatchewan’s success, let me say on his behalf, you’re welcome, there is plenty of success to go around and I’m happy you guys are finally getting your share.
Speaking of Saskatchewan natural resources, we should
never forget potash – white gold, some call it.
Tommy Douglas did potash mining no good, I’ve heard,
but Sask. recovered from him and is apparently now the world’s largest producer.
Despite the organic food freaks, and their wasteful cultivation methods.
Yes, oil is great, but only bacteria can eat it.
Well, speaking only personally, of course, I don’t think Stelmach or Alberta have that much to do with it, causally. I do however think that this is just great news all ’round! Bringing Saskatchewan on board will expand the geographic space and the utility support population, helping to reduce some of the overpressure that Alberta is currently fighting with.
And the availability of one of the worlds largest collections of hydrocarbon and petrochemical engineers right here in the Edmonton/Calgary corridor, on Saskatchewan’s doorstep, can’t help but be a boon to both sides. Increasing local harvesting capacity will also place demand pressures on introducing new local production plant facilities v. simple trans-shipment.
Just be aware, though, skilled resources at all levels are under high demand. You can’t just import n000 skilled people to do your projects ~ where will you get them from?
short memories.
doesnt anyone remember when Forlorne Calvert asked the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation to come in and develop the Saskatchewan Oil Sands.
well I do, and remember they didnt get far. why base it on that disasterous Alberta model of bidding to the free market when you can offer it to Mao Slong and his socialist ilk.
the folks in sask should sue forLornes Red A$$
Really Enkidu,
not out here in the peace region it hasn’t. Maybe in Fort Mac but not in this neck of the woods. Many of those in the patch have moved back to SK and BC while others have moved down to the US.
As an employer I see what has happened first hand. We were just starting to catch up and Ed pulled a fast one on the industry. You can’t find anybody “skilled” to perform the work now so where will they come from when it picks up because of the uptick in gas futures pricing as well as the huge amount of people who are getting ready to retire in the next couple of years? We had them here and they were working, when it slowed they left, plain and simple. Why would they come back if they could go elsewhere?
The teacher angle is relevant: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) called today’s shocking announcement by the Alberta government that taxpayers would be assuming the teachers’ portion of the unfunded pension liability, a betrayal, and a politically-motivated move to avoid a teachers’ strike during the upcoming provincial election.
… In what is becoming a habit, the PC government has torn up the 1992 agreement that had them paying two thirds of the Alberta Teacher’s Pension unfunded liability. Premier Stelmach announced yesterday that the government would saddle taxpayers with an additional 2.1 billion dollar debt by assuming the whole liability.
But, Lorne Gunter said it best… http://tinyurl.com/6kjf73
Stelmach only cared about getting re-elected. He cared more about his own prosperity than the long term prosperity of the province as a whole. Just because you say I’m wrong doesn’t mean i am. Show me proof.
Revnant Dream and Kate are both right. Stelmach is a dud and out of touch with Albertans. Can’t wait for an alternative to show up and for Stelmach to pull a Strom. Unlike Matt I will be showing up at the barbecue circuit, the conventions and speaking engagements wearing my bright yellow shirt and voicing my displeasure.
Count on it.
Glenn- I was a longtime resident of Grande Prairie, and know first hand that you guys are the canary in the coal mine. The first place to feel the effects of a slowdown has always been the Peace country. My nephew is still up there, and he’s doing okay, but a lot of his friends are feeling the pinch.
I do a lot of work for CNRL, and hear through the grapevine that upper management is still ranting about Stelmach, and threatening to stop exploration completely in Alberta. There are some very spiteful people in the oilpatch, and Saskatchewan better not forget it. A lot of projects were cancelled overnight when the NDP won in 1971.
Glenn- do you ever run into Maynard Hotte?
All this time we could have been wallowing in wealth!!! And we were considered the have-not province.
I always wondered why those oilfields ended right at the sask/alta border. funny how a change of gov’t opens borders eh?
Stelmach had a lose/lose situation as far as royalties. Retain status quo-people are mad because “Big Oil” gets a (supposed) free ride. Ding “Big Oil” they leave. Alberta needs Big Oil, would you rather buy it from the Saudis? or worse yet, buy it from Saskatchewan 😉
Why does everybody side step around the reason that no one is building refining capacity in Canada? It is the same reason none is being built on US soil, why a hurricane out on the water can shut down half the US refining capacity.
Go out and tell people you want to build a refinery, then try to buy the lot next to them. NIMBY is the reason. Ontarians want the stinky refinery to be in Alberta, Calgarians don’t want it where they can see it. Everybody moans about the lack of capacity, but no one is willing to live beside one.
yup.
and it AAAAAALL came out of rotted dinosaur soft tissue.
riiiiiight.
gotta believe everything you hear these days.
go along to get along, the right wing mantra.
and the left, and the centrists.
here’s an idea, hows about all you political intolerants all bury yourselves in the same spot sose the few surviving humans in the year 4,430,992 can poke a hole in the ground and cook supper with the oil?
Well about the skilled resources (labor, pipewelders, pipefitters, etc.) there are plenty of us here in the USA, but they pay us quite well, grossing nearly US$4,000 a week @ 84 hours counting perdiem. so for anyone coming up to work in those conditions, your going to pay a quite a bit more. I would like to see that happen. Just to let those in those fields in the know.