Surge in Commodity Prices Brings Drilling Boom to Alberta

The drilling was spurred by oil’s rise above $100 a barrel following the Russian invasion of Ukraine earlier this year. US natural gas prices also jumped above $10 per million British thermal units for the first time since 2008.

The increase in activity has occurred as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government struggles to balance the goal of reducing carbon emissions with providing the global market with more fossil fuels. The prime minister acknowledged in an interview with Bloomberg this week that his government’s price on carbon is “taking a while” to have an impact on emissions.

The amount of drilling in Alberta has never recovered to the levels experienced before the oil price collapse eight years ago. Prior to that, firms consistently drilled more than 10,000 wells a year.