Value of Alberta oil production back to pre-pandemic level A rebound in production paired with a rise in world oil prices has an Alberta economist estimating that the value of the province’s oil production has returned to pre-pandemic levels. The projection comes just days ahead of Finance Minister Travis Toews tabling his 2021 budget. “They have a better starting point in terms of revenues for fiscal year 2021, and probably also a smaller deficit than they would have expected only six months ago,” Alberta central chief economist Charles St-Arnaud told Global News. In his projection, St-Arnaud estimates oil production volume in January was around the level experienced at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while the price for Western Canadian Select averaged US$38.40 per barrel for the month, putting the value of production at around CAN$5.6 billion. This marks a major turnaround for the industry, which saw prices plummet into negative territory last spring. “We, at one point, had about six rigs working in all of Western Canada in some parts of June,” said Mark Scholz, the president of the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors. But in October, some optimism around COVID-19 vaccine development began to take hold, […]
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