NOIA conference focuses on bright future of province's oil industry
Current oil prices may have hurt Newfoundland and Labrador's bottom line — but delegates at annual oil industry conference this week were optimistic about the future.
Bob Cadigan, president and CEO of the industry organization NOIA, said exploration work that's been done over the last couple of years indicates the best is yet to come.
"With the seismic work that's been done over the last couple of years, the new basins in Labrador, defined by Statoil in Flemish pass — there's a real optimism in terms of our future," he said.
"In a world that needs to get production and needs meet future demand, we're really a very new frontier to a lot of the new international players."
Comparisons with Norway
Cadigan told the 800 attendees at the conference that the province is in a similar position that Norway was in the 1970's — before it became a world leader in the industry.
He insists that shows the province is only tapping about three per cent of its potential.
"To date, Norway has 6,000 exploration wells, while Newfoundland and Labrador has 190," he said.
"We're very, very lightly explored. So in a world that needs to meet future demand, we are very new frontier."
Greig Aitken, an oil price analyst attending the NOIA conference, shared that optimism.
"We're forecasting that by 2017 we'll be at $85 per barrel," he said.
By 2020 we'll be at $90 per barrel, so the pick-up is on the way right now."
A need for greater productivity
While there was a great deal of confidence in the room on Tuesday, some were emphasising the work that still needs to be done to make the province a true global players.
Derek Owen of RDO Consulting said the province will have to be more productive if it wants to become more competitive in the oil industry.
Owen told CBC News the province has to create better apprenticeship opportunities — and look more closely at how its labour market is currently structured. He also said the industry has been making changes in places like Alberta, and some of those practices could work in Newfoundland and Labrador.
"Business as usual probably won't cut it," Owen said. "We've got to think outside of the box and we've got to use all the information we have from other areas in order to improve labour productivity."
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