By Scott Jeffrey, Publisher
The Global Petroleum Show wrapped up on June 15, and we need no further evidence that the industry is not back from its glory days. Less than 600 exhibitors were signed up for the three day event, about 1/3 of record numbers when the show was held every two years. As an exhibitor, we also noticed the number of attendees was down, and a view of cards gathered indicated that many producers didn’t take the time to attend the show.
It’s still a great event, and the exhibitors were enthusiastic, selling oil and gas equipment and services with their usual aplomb. Activity is up, oil prices are stable(ish), and demand for product is strong and rising throughout the globe. We are sitting on reserves that put us in the top five in the world, and we may actually see increased pipeline deliverability in the next five years.
However, it is now time for every individual who makes a living from the industry, or who is a proponent of the industry, to wage their own information campaign with the naysayers who enjoy the benefits provided by the sale and use of oil and gas.
How many times have you sat around a dinner table, listening in outraged silence while some white wine socialist holds forth on the evils wrought by the industry that is the foundation for our modern society? Or, how many times have you been able to take no more, exploding in outrage against falsehoods or half-truths spun by men or women who came to dinner in their gas guzzler, enjoyed the comfort of a heated or air conditioned home, and chowed down on a delicious steak prepared on a natural gas or propane barbecue? If you finally do speak up in such a fashion, you’re seen as a hothead, in no way objective, a destroyer of the planet.
And so, in the certain knowledge that revenge is a dish best eaten cold, you can again invite those individuals to dinner, either singly or as a group, and destroy them with five, and only five, unassailable facts. You won’t need any more than that to have THEM sputtering in outrage, while you remain calm and stick to your guns.
Fact #1- Almost 500,000 people in Canada are employed by the oil and gas sector.
Just using an average salary per individual of $75,000/year, wages paid out to the industry amount to $37.5 billion, at least 35% of that taxable. You then factor in royalties on the sale of oil and gas. The economic benefits to Canada, and to government coffers, are enormous. Whether the money is misspent or not, our current standard of living comes in large part from the oil and gas industry.
Fact #2- Pipelines are by far the most efficient and safe way to transport petroleum products.
In Canada we have over 800,000 km of pipelines, transporting about three million barrels of crude per day. In the last 15 years, pipelines have delivered 99.9995 per cent of product safely. Canadians spill more on the ground when they fill up. In B.C., where new pipelines are debated and often vilified, 43,000 km of existing pipeline could be displaced by using about 4,200 railcars. Who wants that amount of rolling stock passing through their community?
Fact #3- Canada’s oilsands produce 0.13% of global greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Environmentalists all over the world rail against our “tarsands,” which by the way is an absolute misnomer. Tar is produced by the distillation of coal, not to be confused with the oil that is entrapped in sand up in northern Alberta. If you want a real fight on your hands, take on King Coal, which is responsible for 44% of global GHGs.
Fact #4- Over 6,000 household items are produced from petroleum based products.
There is no need to mention the obvious uses for our petroleum products, but when you realize that cleaning products, medicines, cosmetics, synthetic rubber, plastic, fabrics, and foodstuffs are made from petroleum, people tend to get very quiet. If you find a product not made from a petroleum base, you probably chopped it down and carved it yourself.
Fact #5- Canada can supply all its oil and gas needs, but imports over 600,000 bbl/day.
This is ridiculous. We spend about $25 billion a year importing Saudi and other crude, and we are held up by about 1,000 km of new pipeline construction. To the detriment of the rest of Canada, a few Quebec mayors will try to halt Energy East until they get paid. The benefits of using our own natural resources are so obvious that only the most obtuse would object.
So there you have it. In my simplistic way, I’ve presented five facts that are not subject to interpretation. If your dinner guests still dispute the need for oil and gas, ask them to put their money where their mouth is. Ask them to think globally, as they no doubt believe they are doing, but act locally. They can walk to your house, ask you to turn off the furnace or the air conditioner, wear less mascara, and otherwise reduce their consumption of products produced from the oil and gas molecule.
And most important of all, remain calm, and let them do the sputtering for a change.
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