On the occasion of the presentation of their results for the year 2022, the main Canadian oil companies announced record figures: net profit of 6.5 billion dollars (about 6.08 billion euros) for Cenovus Energy, eleven times higher than in 2021; Imperiale Oil (Canadian subsidiary of ExxonMobile) has more than tripled its own (7.3 billion dollars) when Suncor has doubled (9 billion). In Alberta, a province which alone accounts for 80% of Canada’s oil resources, record production of 1.4 billion barrels accompanied the surge in hydrocarbon prices. Expected in 2023, the completion of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project is expected to produce an additional 500,000 barrels per day.
A godsend for these companies, more than 95% of whose oil production comes from the exploitation of the Athabasca oil sands mines located in the north of the province. Because the sector is emerging from nearly a decade of slump: the fall in oil prices from 2014 and then the slowdown in the global economy during the Covid-19 pandemic caused the bankruptcy of hundreds of small businesses, caused the loss of 80,000 jobs in the fossil industry and deepened public deficits in Alberta, whose finances are highly dependent on oil revenues.
But the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine has radically changed the situation: the miraculous results of the Canadian majors bring hope to reconnect with the glorious hours of black gold, which made this province one of the richest from the country. Since 1967, when an open pit oil sands mine was first developed, hundreds of thousands of workers have come to clear the land, build the roads, develop and operate the production sites to heat and pump the viscous oil of the Alberta basement, in order to earn a very honorable living there.
“End of expansion period”
The new oil boom underway does not, however, quite mark a return to status quo ante : even the Canadian oil companies feel, a little, the wind turning. “We are seeing today that with their record profits, they prefer to remunerate their shareholders with the payment of record dividends ($20 billion in 2022 compared to $5 billion in 2014) rather than continuing to invest,” explains Charles St-Arnaud, an economist at Alberta Central Bank in Calgary.
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