The oil and gas extraction sector has always been considered a huge part of the Alberta economy.

But data put together by ATB Financial’s Economics & Research Team shows just how dependent the province is on the energy industry.

“There are a lot of other players on Alberta’s economic team—from agriculture and tourism to high-tech and petrochemicals to educational services and logistics—but there is a reason the oil and gas sector is such an important topic here. Oil and gas extraction, which doesn’t include refining or other related activities, accounts for about a quarter of our real gross domestic product (GDP). Only Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy is more dependent on oil and gas,” said ATB on Monday in its daily economic update The Owl.

Although it is still important to the national economy, oil and gas extraction directly accounts for virtually zero per cent of GDP in Ontario and Quebec and only about two per cent in British Columbia.”

The report said that the percentage of the GDP in 2018 from the oil and gas sector is 30.3 per cent in Newfoundland & Labrador, 27.6 per cent in Alberta and 15.8 per cent in Saskatchewan.

 “Consider the fact Alberta’s oil and gas extraction generated more real GDP than the entire manufacturing sector of Ontario in 2018. That amounts to $92.93 billion compared to $89.6 billion. Think of how much attention the auto sector (which is only one slice of Ontario’s manufacturing pie) gets and apply that to oil and gas in Alberta,” added the report.

 “The topic of pipelines comes with its own urgency. Not a drop of oil is flowing out of Alberta in any of the three major pipelines we need built, leaving people wondering when we’ll be able to get the product to market. With that in mind, pipelines are sure to be an ongoing topic of interest when discussing the provincial economy.”

Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.

© Calgary’s Business


Oil and gas extraction sectorThe views, opinions and positions expressed by columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of our publication.