Everybody knows — or ought to know — oil and gas represents about 10% of Canada’s $2 trillion economy on any given day when oil prices are high, as they are now..What’s harder to quantify are the indirect benefits from all the ancillary industries that support it, such as construction and engineering in all parts of the country..Now a new fact sheet from the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) is attempting to do just that..According to the CEC, the ‘backward linkages’ of oil and gas activity add at least another $15 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) and creates another 200,000 jobs in various sectors across the country and through the entire supply chain..They run the range from financial services and automotive leasing — cars are made in Ontario — to software developers and people who pump gasoline. Even mail delivery and taxi and limousine drivers make the list.. Top 5 oil spinoffsTop 5 oil spinoffs By dollar value. .Leading the list is architectural and engineering services at $4.1 billion followed by machinery and equipment at $3 billion. Banking and finance adds another $2 billion, IT $1.7 billion and electric power transmission at $1.5 billion..For jobs, the oil and gas sector contributes:.• Oil and gas engineering construction: 95,122.• Architectural, engineering, and related services: 33,845.• Machinery, equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers: 23,906.• Employment services: 15,534.Computer systems design and related services: 13,695.In turn, those workers were indirectly responsible for even more significant portions of GDP in key industries across Canada, ranging from $100.9 million in food, beverage and tobacco merchant wholesalers to $250 million for hotels and accommodation..The figures were all from 2019, the most recently available from StatsCan and predate the pandemic..Although the numbers could hardly be described as conclusive, the evidence is clear — any ‘just transition’ away from oil and gas is going to take a lot more than just retraining rig hands..“The impact of the broad oil and gas sector on the GDP and jobs of other key sectors of the Canadian economy is not well known, yet extremely relevant to current discussions about the sector’s importance to Canada’s economic future,” CEC said.
Everybody knows — or ought to know — oil and gas represents about 10% of Canada’s $2 trillion economy on any given day when oil prices are high, as they are now..What’s harder to quantify are the indirect benefits from all the ancillary industries that support it, such as construction and engineering in all parts of the country..Now a new fact sheet from the Canadian Energy Centre (CEC) is attempting to do just that..According to the CEC, the ‘backward linkages’ of oil and gas activity add at least another $15 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) and creates another 200,000 jobs in various sectors across the country and through the entire supply chain..They run the range from financial services and automotive leasing — cars are made in Ontario — to software developers and people who pump gasoline. Even mail delivery and taxi and limousine drivers make the list.. Top 5 oil spinoffsTop 5 oil spinoffs By dollar value. .Leading the list is architectural and engineering services at $4.1 billion followed by machinery and equipment at $3 billion. Banking and finance adds another $2 billion, IT $1.7 billion and electric power transmission at $1.5 billion..For jobs, the oil and gas sector contributes:.• Oil and gas engineering construction: 95,122.• Architectural, engineering, and related services: 33,845.• Machinery, equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers: 23,906.• Employment services: 15,534.Computer systems design and related services: 13,695.In turn, those workers were indirectly responsible for even more significant portions of GDP in key industries across Canada, ranging from $100.9 million in food, beverage and tobacco merchant wholesalers to $250 million for hotels and accommodation..The figures were all from 2019, the most recently available from StatsCan and predate the pandemic..Although the numbers could hardly be described as conclusive, the evidence is clear — any ‘just transition’ away from oil and gas is going to take a lot more than just retraining rig hands..“The impact of the broad oil and gas sector on the GDP and jobs of other key sectors of the Canadian economy is not well known, yet extremely relevant to current discussions about the sector’s importance to Canada’s economic future,” CEC said.
