Saskatchewan is hosting one of North America’s premier oil and gas trade shows and networking events this week.
Representatives from diverse areas of the petroleum industry will attend the 27th Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Regina.
The conference’s focus is the significant oil-producing region that encompasses southern Saskatchewan, North and South Dakota, Montana and Manitoba, which represents billions of dollars in combined economic activity.
The event, which takes place on an alternating basis with Bismarck, N.D., is hosted by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources and the Petroleum Technology Research Centre.
“The Williston Basin is a major component of Saskatchewan’s employment, innovation and economic prosperity,” Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said. “Resource-based activity and investment are very important to our province. According to the 2018 Scotiabank Playbook, Saskatchewan had six of the top 20 oil and gas plays for return on investment, and the highest ranking play was Frobisher in the Williston Basin area.”
The theme of this year’s conference, Saskatchewan Now, profiles opportunities for investment in Saskatchewan. On the agenda are business and technical sessions, including panel discussions focused on investment strategies, enhanced oil recovery, pipeline integrity and innovations in heavy, light and tight oil.
Saskatchewan produced almost 500,000 barrels of oil per day in 2018, ranking as the sixth-largest onshore oil-producing jurisdiction in North America. Competitive advantages have helped to attract $4.2 billion in private investment in Saskatchewan’s oil industry in 2017 and $4.5 billion in 2018. Combined, the province’s mining, and oil and gas industries generated a combined real GDP of more than $22 billion in 2018, accounting for more than 27 per cent of Saskatchewan’s total 2018 real GDP by industry.
