After a volatile period for many natural resources due to the COVID pandemic, oil & gas seems to have finally landed on an even footing.
That comes after this year's public offerings of oil and gas for Saskatchewan ended at around $52 million raised, more than five times the amount from the previous year.
Prices did jump at points in the year, but for the most part, seem to be stabilizing.
Anthony Sernick, who works business development with MANTL Artificial Lifts, a company that provides services in the oilfields around Estevan, says the stability is appreciated.
"2022 has been the steadiest year that we've probably seen in the oilfield since 2015. Everything felt good, the price of oil was good, obviously, it keeps going up and down on us. I think it had highs in the 120, and now it hovers around the 70-80 dollar range."
Work hasn't just included working on new land, but also reintegrating older wells that may have been shut off in the past couple of years.
"The highlight has just been firing up the old wells. Obviously, drilling is kind of where it's at - putting the bit in the ground and discovering new oil. But even for our company, MANTL Artificial Lifts," said Sernick, "we've been busy just firing up the old wells that have been shut in throughout COVID. That's a real boost for the area, it's just the more wells, the merrier we are."
Sernick is hoping that oil prices don't rise sharply in the future, as demand for oil is already high worldwide.
"Hopefully the price of oil can stay in that 80-90 range, something like that. Obviously, we don't want to see it too high. One kinda costly thing there is that there is a shortage of oil in the world for demand. Even our little pipeline that goes through southeast Saskatchewan, which most of our oil goes on, it's short about 40 thousand barrels which is a pretty large sum for any pipeline company."