Oil And Gas Industry Job Loss In Canada Could Reach 185,000 -- June 16, 2015

Rigzone is reporting:

Since late last year, oil and gas companies globally have fought to sustain the drop in oil prices … layoffs ensued and companies large and small were affected.

And according to a new study released by the Petroleum Labour Market Information Division of Enform, a safety association for upstream oil and gas in Canada, there’s a prediction that 185,000 jobs will be lost in Canada this year due to the drop in oil prices.

According to the study, in 2014, the oil and gas industry spent nearly $125 billion on exploration, development and production – which supported more than 720,000 direct and indirect jobs in Canada. About two-thirds of these jobs were concentrated in Alberta.

185,000 / 720,000 = about 25%.

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But Gloom And Doom Is Not Everywhere

Rigzone is reporting:

Shell Chemical Appalachia LLC has closed on its acquisition of a site in Monaca, Pa., where it may build a world-scale plant to process the natural gas liquid ethane into the petrochemical building block ethylene, previous site owner Horsehead Corp.

Horsehead used to operate a zinc smelter facility at the site, which is located along the Ohio River in Beaver County northwest of Pittsburgh.

Shell has considered the site for its proposed ethane cracker since 2012, when it signed a land option agreement with Horsehead. Demolition of existing facilities began at the site in 2014, and last fall Shell announced its decision to purchase the site. Should it decide to build the cracker, Shell has said that it would source ethane feedstock from the nearby Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

Just one more example of the "stuff" going on in the oil and gas industry in the United States while France bans fracking; Germany returns to coal; Spain asks "WTF" happened to solar; the Mideast blows itself up; and, Russia can't get anything going.  It's not even going well for the Norwegians.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate’s (NPD) preliminary production figures for May 2015 have revealed that average daily production (ADP) of oil, NGL and condensate hit its lowest point last month since September 2014.

ADP of oil, NGL and condensate was around 1.86 million barrels for May, which was 85,000 barrels per day, or 0.4 percent, less than in April 2015.

The last time daily production figures were lower than in May this year was September 2014, when preliminary production figures indicated an average daily oil, NGL and condensate production of around 1.83 million barrels. Compared to May 2014, the latest figures from the NPD seemed positive. Last year’s preliminary May figures revealed an average daily production of around 1.66 million barrels of oil, NGL and condensate, which was 282,000 barrels per day, or 14 percent, less than April 2014’s figures.

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Previously Posted But I'm In A Good Mood

Reuters over at Rigzone is also reporting:

Imperial Oil Ltd said it has begun production at its Kearl oil sands expansion project in Alberta, Canada, ahead of schedule. Production is expected to reach 110,000 barrels per day, bringing total production to 220,000 barrels per day which is majority-owned by Exxon Mobil Corp.

This is what put me in a good mood: the project came in ahead of schedule. Party time in Alberta this weekend.

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The Ride

Long-time readers -- really, really long-time readers -- know how much I hate automobiles. I prefer to bike everywhere. I used to write about that every once in awhile, a long time ago. But I haven't talked about it much lately. In fact, the last time I wrote about cars, I said I was actually enjoying "my" Honda Civic. Gasoline was relatively inexpensive and the car is sporty enough. I wouldn't drive a car at all if I didn't have to but I do the majority of driving the granddaughters to their soccer games and their swimming. Last week I drove them to computer camp, both going and returning. This week I'm driving the 8 y/o to soccer camp every day; the oldest one is in out-of-town, in Austin, on a leadership "camp."

So, I do a lot of driving, way more than I expected at this point in my life. Driving gives me a lot of time to listen to music. 

For whatever reason, I've been listening to Lana Del Rey's Born To Die album quite a bit. I think it was with "Million Dollar Man" it finally hit. Lana Del Rey is the female, 21st century version of the poet/songwriter/singer Leonard Cohen.

Writing and singing autobiographically is nothing new, nothing unique, but Cohen and Del Rey are two of the best. Roy Orbison's songs were autobiographical and personal, but generic; they could be covered by others. But when you listen to Cohen's and Del Rey's songs they sound way too personal; they can be covered by others, but their songs are their songs. As personal as Leonard Cohen's songs are, however, they do not compare to Del Rey's -- wow, she goes beyond what one expects.

She really exposes herself emotionally.

I wonder what Hunter S Thompson would have said?

This is what NPR had to say, one year ago, June 20, 2014.