With our precious planet having completed another trip around the sun, it's notable that we are now more than halfway into the second decade of the new millennium. But are we better off than we were a year ago?
For many people, it's difficult to answer yes. As we know, the price of oil is being pummelled by an extreme glut of supply on the international market. The U.S. and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, the membership of which is mostly made up of oil exporting developing countries) each refuse to curtail production in a serious game of geopolitical chicken, and Canada is collateral damage. With the U.S. preparing to export some of its oil supply for the first time in 40 years within just a couple of weeks, things might get even more difficult for Canada. The ability to reduce the cost of a barrel of oil to about $20 by the year 2020 is going to make or break many projects and companies.
I recently took an unscientific straw poll at a meeting of the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG), asking what percentage of their local workforce had been let go. The consensus was that between 15 and 20 per cent of the local oil and gas labour force had been laid off. Although Sundre is fortunate in that it has a diversified economy and the effects of the provincial downturn are blunted, what are those who have already been laid off to do if they can't find other work? What are the small producers to do? Perhaps what is needed is for their focus of attention to be re-conceptualized.
This is where opportunity lies.
It is time for some oil and gas companies to see themselves as energy businesses instead of merely as petroleum resource extraction companies. The opportunity to invest in all energy forms, including renewables, represents a diversification model that could protect some businesses' interests. This would require a serious pivot in their business model, along with the kind of steadfast entrepreneurialism that got their businesses off the ground in the first place. The strategy will not work for all businesses. But it's worth noting that there will be support in the coming years for those entrepreneurs, be they business owners or unemployed workers seeking to take control of their destiny, who wish to make a go of it in this exponentially growing sector.
Up to 98 per cent of the world's climate and earth scientists concur that our one, single precious planet is warming as a result of the gases being emitted through the activity of Earth's seven billion-plus humans. As a result of this, global leaders recently announced in Paris that the 21st century would see a change in the manner through which humanity powers its technology. Recognizing this, our current provincial government has moved toward diversification in the area of carbon-friendly electricity production. Since this is a strategic direction of the government, there will likely be provincial support available in the near future for carbon-friendly energy industries (even if control of the provincial reins changes in the future).
Entrepreneurs seeking to get into the field of renewable energy technology will be able to tap into support from agencies such as Central Alberta Access Prosperity, Community Futures Network of Alberta, and Alberta Innovates. Post-secondary training is also available to help teach the skills necessary to support this burgeoning alternative energy field. For those willing to adapt, the opportunity to become a student and/or an entrepreneurial business owner still exists.
We all hope that the price of oil recovers sooner rather than later ó but due to the move toward renewables in the western world, combined with the diversification of energy supplies by energy importers, opportunity exists for those willing to shift their attention and to take it.
