The highest oil prices in seven years will encourage drilling, investment, and employment in Canada’s energy sector, but not as much as in past years, say analysts.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price exceeded US$79.10 per barrel on Oct. 5, and some analysts expect prices to rise higher still. The last time the price was this high was 2014, a year that 11,222 oil and gas wells were drilled in Canada, according to the ARC Energy Institute. Yet ARC expects just 4,247 wells to be drilled this year.
