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Hot Jobs: Is working in oil and gas still a surefire way to make a lot of money?
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Whether you’re figuring out your first career path or looking to change directions, a new series from Global News, Hot Jobs, focuses on career strategy for a new era in work.
Terry Reid never worried about holding down a job during the 15 years he worked in oil and gas.
Reid, an environmental engineer, moved to Calgary from Deer Lake, N.L., in 2000. He was laid off during the 2008 recession, but his unemployment stint was brief and seemed par for the course in a commodity-based industry prone to highs and lows. Calgary felt insulated from the recession, he says, a thought that seemed validated when he quickly picked up a new job.
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But in 2014, as the price of oil dropped, Reid started to brace. The project he was managing for Suncor in Fort McMurray was winding down and the company was reducing travel, stripping expenses from its budget.
“I could see the writing on the wall,” he says.
In February 2015, Reid was let go. He wasn’t worried, at least not in those first few weeks. But as his job search stretched on and headlines blared about more and more layoffs, he started to realize this downturn was different.
“I just started riding this roller coaster of looking for work.”
Reid’s not alone in his job quest. More than 52,500 industry jobs disappeared in 2015 and 2016, according to the Petroleum Labour Market Information (PetroLMI) division of Energy Safety Canada. Four years later, the Canadian oil and gas industry labour force is 25 per cent smaller than it was during its peak in 2014 when it employed more than 226,000 people.
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Those who remain committed to the oil and gas sector face a smaller industry, fewer major investments that hold the promise of new jobs, and technology’s job-altering encroachment. Will oil and gas jobs bounce back? Or is the heyday of some of Canada’s best-paying gigs over?
While 2017 was certainly a “low point for jobs,” says Ben Brunnen, vice-president of oil sands with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), “those that are employed in the sector can continue to earn the highest average weekly wages in the country.”
There are groups dedicated to helping people find jobs through back channels and networking and organizations designed to help people upgrade their skills for a more automated industry. But for some, the more concerning question isn’t how you go about finding one of these jobs right now, but rather, longer-term, will enough people still want them?
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A PetroLMI report last year raised concern about labour shortages that could get worse as fewer workers were likely to enter the oil and gas job market, and an increasing number of experienced workers were leaving it.
Reid would go back if someone offered him a job, although for the most part he’s refocused his efforts on renewable energy. In the last four years, he’s taken solar thermal training courses and taught himself about energy savings by making extensive modifications to his own home.
His power bill is down to $2 a month, Reid says, “which was very exciting for me.”
Since being laid off from the oil and gas industry, Terry Reid has taught himself about energy savings by making extensive modifications to his own home.
Global News
He credits Higher Landing Inc., a career transformation company in the city, with helping him adjust after being laid off, to shift his focus. These days, Higher Landing’s president, Jackie Rafter, says most of the people she helps change their careers are out-of-work oil and gas workers. And while Reid would go back to the industry, she says not everyone wants to.
“They’re so disillusioned with oil and gas that they’re actually looking to get out. A lot of them don’t feel appreciated for all that they did.”
One of the more difficult aspects of the downturn was the number of mid-career folks who were laid off, Brunnen says.
“They’re in a bit of an awkward position,” he says. “They built pretty substantial levels of expertise and knowledge in a sector over time and they’re not ready to retire, but at the same time in a constrained environment companies are reticent to bring them back on.”
In the last year or so, there’s been a roughly seven per cent increase in employment, says Carol Howes, vice-president of PetroLMI. And while job numbers are substantially lower than they were during the 2014 peak, PetroLMI figures show the industry actually grew 15 per cent between 2006 and 2016.
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“We have seen some jobs coming back,” Howes says, “but it’s still substantially less than the number of jobs we lost.”
Part of the problem, she says, is that there isn’t the same type of growth and large-project construction in the oil sands that there once was. Nobody is expecting any new major investments in Canada for at least the next year, Brunnen says, partly because the economy is so uncertain but also because of the federal court decision quashing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
“I think investors are going to sit on the sidelines a little bit,” Brunnen says, which spells short-term uncertainty for job seekers.
“Folks are going to have to start making those harder decisions about finding alternative opportunities … it’s definitely a wait-and-see atmosphere that we’re in.”
In the current environment, Rafter says, she’s seen two camps emerge: the workers who will fight to stay in and those looking to get out.
Rafter helps the group looking for a way out change careers. She’s seen some more dramatic-seeming changes: geologists become bankers. And then she’s seen the industry’s Terry Reids, environmental engineers shifting focus and trying to find alternative sources of income to float them through the industry lows without leaving it altogether.
For those who want to stay in oil and gas, Rafter says she tries to help them tap into the more “hidden” job market, “which is still alive and thriving.”
That’s where Mike Vickers comes in.
Vickers, who came from Nova Scotia and “fell in love with the industry” started Oilfield Jobs Shop shortly after the downturn. What began as a Facebook page posting links to underpublicized oil and gas jobs is now a website aiming to position itself as the industry’s go-to for jobs.
“What I realized pretty quick is the social reach and the social aspect to this industry has never been really tapped into before,” says Vickers, who works as a field service technician, installing wellheads.
He acknowledges the job loss but is confident that more oil sands investment will come.
“I think any industry that has a big downturn like this is going to see a certain amount of people [leave], but there are still a lot of Albertans that have been really strong, that really believe in the industry, that really want to wait it out.”
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While the industry is already seeing fewer engineering and construction jobs, Howes says advancing technology is introducing new jobs, like emissions management and data-based work, to the sector.
Even as automation changes the skill requirements of employees, she says there’s a real incentive to support current employees in gaining the skills they need to move into new roles rather than purely hiring fresh. It’s a complex industry filled with workers who are already incredibly knowledgeable, Howes says, so employers “do want to marry that skill set with all sorts of new technologies.”
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That doesn’t mean the oil and gas industry isn’t still trying to attract new workers or that there are no opportunities. It’s a challenge to recruit young people to some of the colder, more remote communities for shift work, Howes says, but the industry still retained one advantage that it had before the downturn.
“The salaries are very attractive.”
© 2018 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.
In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.
Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.
With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.
Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”
“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.
The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.
When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.
“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”
MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.
MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.
The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.
The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.
Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.
STUDIO SHORTAGE
The film industry is cramped in Montreal.
According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.
With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.
Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »
« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.
She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.
« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.
There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.
« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.
Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.
For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.
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