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There’s optimism in Saskatchewan’s oil sector to start the new year.
More than half of the province’s oil rigs — 57 of 105 — are now working, with 19 of them starting up over the last week.
Estevan Mayor Roy Ludwig said there are lots of signs up around the city with companies looking to hire.
“We’re hearing positive things out of our oil sector. We’ve got lots of signs up, ‘People wanted’, ‘Looking for hands’, so that’s a good sign,” said Ludwig.
Winter is the busiest time of year for the petroleum industry because company budgets come into effect at the beginning of January when drilling increases. The heightened activity carries through to March.
While it isn’t a boom, Ludwig is optimistic that the struggling oil sector will start to see a slow incline rather than a slow decline throughout 2020.
“Now it would appear we’re starting to turn the corner. We’re holding our own and actually increasing a little bit more on the job end of things,” said Ludwig.
In an email, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy and Resources said: “The Government of Saskatchewan is optimistic that this increase is a good sign, in terms of oil well drilling, for the coming year, although it should be noted this is a relatively small sample size at the very start of the season.”
Ludwig reminded that oil prices are also dependent on what is happening on the world stage, which can be unpredictable. He points to the escalated tensions with the West and Iran.
“Hopefully that will soon die down but again, that all remains to be seen,” he said.