Labour shortage in oilpatch current reality
CALGARY ` Labour shortages aren`t looming in the Alberta oilpatch, they are already here, said the head of the Petroleum Human Resources Council.
As oil and natural gas liquids activity ramps up on the back of strong prices, conventional operations are having to compete not only with like-industries such as construction, but with unconventional projects ` the oilsands.
`Our shortage, just based on activity alone, is now, in 2011,` said Cheryl Knight Thursday at an Economic Society of Canada presentation.
In 2009 the oil and gas industry directly employed 172,000 people in operations, most in out in the field in the services sector, Knight said, at the Chamber of Commerce. Drilling and servicing rigs, or exploration and production, drew the next largest segment of workers, with the oilsands trailing third.
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