Editing Economy of Alberta (section)

===Oil and gas extraction industries===
[[Image:Alberta oil gas drilling well 023.jpg|thumb|Drilling rig in Alberta.]]
{{See also|Petroleum production in Canada|Natural gas in Canada}}

In 2018, Alberta's energy sector contributed over $71.5 billion to Canada's nominal gross domestic product.<ref name="NRCAN_20190907" /> In 2006, it accounted for 29.1% of Alberta's GDP;<ref name="GovAB_2018" />{{rp|3}} by 2012 it was 23.3%;<ref name="occinfo_alis_alberta_2016" /> in 2013, it was 24.6%,<ref name="GovAB_2017407" />{{rp|6}} and in 2016 it was 27.9%.<ref name="GovAB_2018" />{{rp|3}} According to [[Statistics Canada]], in May 2018, the oil and gas extraction industry reached its highest proportion of Canada's national GDP since 1985, exceeding 7% and "surpass[ing] banking and insurance".<ref name="CBC_Fletcher_20180731" /> with extraction of non-conventional oil from the oilsands reaching an "impressive", all-time high in May 2018.<ref name="CBC_Fletcher_20180731" /> With conventional oil extraction "climbed up to the highs from 2007", the demand for Canadian oil was strong in May.<ref name="CBC_Fletcher_20180731" />

Alberta is the largest producer of [[petroleum|conventional crude oil]], [[synthetic crude]], [[natural gas]] and gas products in the country. Alberta is the world's 2nd largest exporter of natural gas and the 4th largest producer.<ref>[http://www.gov.state.ak.us/trade/2003/tad/canada/canadaalberta.htm State of Alaska - Trade Report on Alberta] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215031033/http://www.gov.state.ak.us/trade/2003/tad/canada/canadaalberta.htm |date=December 15, 2006 }}</ref> Two of the largest producers of [[petrochemicals]] in North America are located in central and north central Alberta. In both [[Red Deer, Alberta|Red Deer]] and [[Edmonton]], world class [[polyethylene]] and [[Vinyl group|vinyl]] manufacturers produce products shipped all over the world, and Edmonton's [[oil refinery|oil refineries]] provide the raw materials for a large [[petrochemical industry]] to the east of Edmonton. Since the early 1940s, Alberta had supplied oil and gas to the rest of Canada and the [[United States]]. The [[Athabasca River]] region produces oil for internal and external use. The [[Athabasca Oil Sands]] contain the largest proven reserves of oil in the world outside [[Saudi Arabia]].

The [[Athabasca Oil Sands]] (sometimes known as the Athabasca [[Tar sands]]) have estimated [[unconventional oil]] reserves approximately equal to the [[conventional oil]] reserves of the rest of the world, estimated to be {{convert|1.6|Toilbbl}}. With the development of new extraction methods such as [[steam-assisted gravity drainage]] (SAGD), which was developed in Alberta, bitumen and synthetic crude oil can be produced at costs close to those of conventional crude. Many companies employ both conventional [[surface mining|strip mining]] and non-conventional [[in situ]] methods to extract the [[bitumen]] from the oil sands. With current technology and at current prices, about {{convert|315|Goilbbl}} of bitumen are recoverable. [[Fort McMurray]], one of Canada's fastest growing cities, has grown enormously in recent years because of the large corporations which have taken on the task of oil production. As of late 2006 there were over $100 billion in oil sands projects under construction or in the planning stages in northeastern Alberta.

Another factor determining the viability of oil extraction from the oil sands was the price of oil. The [[oil price increases since 2003]] made it more than profitable to extract this oil, which in the past would give little profit or even a loss.

Alberta's economy was negatively impacted by the [[2016 oil glut|2015-2016 oil glut]] with a record high volume of worldwide oil [[inventory|inventories]] in storage,<ref name="Firzli"/> with global crude oil collapsing at near ten-year low prices.<ref name="G&M_Deloitte_2016"/><ref name="reuters_2016_Feb16"/><ref name="fortune_2016"/> The United States doubled its 2008 production levels mainly due to substantial improvements in [[tight oil|shale]] "[[fracking]]" technology, OPEC members consistently exceeded their production ceiling, and China experienced a marked slowdown in economic growth and crude oil imports.<ref name="G&M_Deloitte_2016"/><ref name="reuters_2016_Feb16"/><ref name="fortune_2016"/><ref name="NYT_2014">{{cite news |title=U.S. Oil Prices Fall Below $80 a Barrel |first=Clifford |last=Krassnov |date=November 3, 2014 |access-date=December 13, 2014 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/business/energy-environment/us-oil-prices-fall-below-80-a-barrel.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/04/business/energy-environment/us-oil-prices-fall-below-80-a-barrel.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=glut>{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-04/opec-maintains-crude-production-as-group-defers-output-target-ihryzilb |title=OPEC Won't Cut Production to Stop Oil's Slump |publisher=Bloomberg News |date=December 4, 2015}}</ref>

Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction Industry (2017)<ref name="GOV_AB_Profile_Extraction_2018">{{cite report |series=Industry Profiles 2018 |title=Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction Industry |url=https://work.alberta.ca/documents/industry-profile-mining-oil-and-gas-extraction.pdf |date=February 2018 |isbn=978-1-4601-3781-9 |issn= 2292-8960 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909194936/https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/f5a3586b-9fad-47a5-8741-e46cf5008d16/resource/9b026daf-1045-49bb-aad6-34996db59914/download/industry-profile-mining-oil-and-gas-extraction.pdf |archive-date=September 9, 2019 }}</ref>
 
{| class="wikitable"
! 
!Alberta
!Mining and Oil and Gas Extraction Industry 
|-
|Employment ||2,286,900 ||140,300 
|-
|Employment Share ||N/A ||6.1% 
|-
|Unemployment ||194,700 ||8,800 
|-
|Unemployment rate ||7.8% ||5.9%
|} 
*Data Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, CANSIM Table 282–0008, 2017 "Employment share is obtained by dividing the number of employment in this industry by total employment in Alberta."<ref name="GOV_AB_Profile_Extraction_2018"/>

====Natural gas====
[[Natural gas]] has been found at several points, and in 1999, the production of [[natural gas liquids]] ([[ethane]], [[propane]], and [[butane]]s) totalled {{convert|172.8|Moilbbl}}, valued at $2.27 billion. Alberta also provides 13% of all the natural gas used in the United States.

Notable gas reserves were discovered in the 1883 near Medicine Hat.<ref>{{Cite web| title = Accidental Industry - Natural Gas - Alberta's Energy Heritage| access-date = September 9, 2019| url = http://history.alberta.ca/energyheritage/gas/creation-of-an-industry/accidental-industry/default.aspx}}</ref><ref name="energy">{{citation |url=http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/About_Us/984.asp |title=Alberta Energy: Energy Facts |url-status=dead |access-date=June 21, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080329091022/http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/About_Us/984.asp |archive-date=March 29, 2008 }}</ref> The town of [[Medicine Hat, Alberta|Medicine Hat]] began using gas for lighting the town, and supplying light and fuel for the people, and a number of industries using the gas for manufacturing.

One of North America's benchmarks is Alberta gas-trading price—the AECO "C" spot price.<ref name="GOV_AB_2019"/>

In 2018, 69% of the marketable natural gas in Canada was produced in Alberta.<ref name="NRCAN_20190908">{{Cite web| work = NRCAN| title = Natural gas facts| access-date = September 9, 2019| date = September 8, 2019| url = https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/natural-gas-facts/20067| archive-date = September 11, 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190911190044/https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/natural-gas-facts/20067| url-status = dead}}</ref> Forty nine per cent of Alberta's natural gas production is consumed in Alberta.<ref name="GOV_AB_2019">{{Cite web| title = Natural gas overview| access-date = September 9, 2019| url = https://www.alberta.ca/natural-gas-overview.aspx |work=Government of Alberta}}</ref> In Alberta, the average household uses {{convert|135|GJ}} of natural gas annually.<ref>{{Citation| title = Electricity and natural gas contracts | access-date = September 9, 2019| url = https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/2cda2fa1-21c4-45d8-8537-fae0c92de94a/resource/799a024e-4861-44f6-bb4d-d16cb63063b1/download/electricity-and-natural-gas-contracts.pdf |date=2018}}</ref> Domestic demand for natural gas is divided across sectors, with the highest demand—83% coming from "industrial, electrical generation, transportation and other sectors," and 17 percent going towards residential and commercial sectors.<ref name="GOV_AB_2019"/> 
Of the provinces, Alberta is the largest consumer of natural gas at 3.9 billion cubic feet per day.<ref name="NEB_20171207">{{cite web |title=NEB – Provincial and Territorial Energy Profiles – Canada |url=https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/nrg/ntgrtd/mrkt/nrgsstmprfls/cda-eng.html |website=www.neb-one.gc.ca |publisher=National Energy Board - Government of Canada |date=December 7, 2017}}</ref>

By August 2019, the ''Financial Post'' said that "AECO daily and monthly natural gas prices" were at the lowest they have been since 1992.<ref name="FinPo_Morgan_20190809">{{Cite web| title = Alberta natural gas producers struggle through worst prices in 26 years, but outlook is improving |work= Financial Post| access-date = September 9, 2019| date = August 9, 2018| url = https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/alberta-natural-gas-producers-struggle-through-worst-prices-in-26-years-but-outlook-is-improving |first=Geoffrey |last=Morgan}}</ref> Canada's largest natural gas producer, [[Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.]], announced in early August that it had "shut in gas production of 27,000 million cubic feet per day because of depressed prices.<ref name="FinPo_Morgan_20190809"/> Previously natural gas pipeline drilled in the southern Alberta and shipped to markets in Eastern Canada. By 2019, the entire natural gas industry had was primarily operating in northwestern Alberta and northeastern B.C., which resulted in strained infrastructure. New systems will not be complete until 2021 or 2023.<ref name="FinPo_Morgan_20190809"/> In September 25, 2017 Alberta's benchmark AECO natural gas prices fell into "negative territory – "meaning producers have had to pay customers to take their gas".<ref name="FinPo_Morgan_20171012">{{Cite web |first=Geoffrey |last=Morgan| title = Natural gas prices are so bad in Alberta producers are having to pay customers to take it |work=Financial Post| access-date = September 9, 2019| date = October 12, 2017| url = https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/canadian-natural-gas-prices-enter-negative-territory-amid-pipeline-outages}}</ref> It happened again in early October with the price per gigajoule dropping to -7 cents.<ref name="FinPo_Morgan_20171012"/> TransCanada (now TC Energy Corp)—which "owns and operates Alberta's "largest natural gas gathering and transmission system, interrupted its pipeline service in the fall of 2017 to complete field maintenance on the Alberta system.<ref name="FinPo_Morgan_20171012"/> In July 2018, RS Energy Group's energy analyst Samir Kayande, said that faced with a glut of natural gas across North America, the continental market price was $3 per gigajoule.<ref name="CBC_Edwardson_20190718">{{cite news| last=Edwardson| date = July 18, 2019| first =Lucie | title = Energy analyst weighs in on Alberta natural gas producers seeking government intervention |work= CBC News | access-date = September 9, 2019| url = https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/natural-gas-alberta-production-cuts-1.5215816}}</ref> Alberta is "awash" with natural gas but faces pipeline bottlenecks.<ref name="CBC_Edwardson_20190718"/> CEOs of nine Alberta natural gas producers requested the Kenney government to mandate production cuts to deal with the crisis.<ref name="CBC_Edwardson_20190718"/> On June 30, the AECO price of gas dropped to 11 cents per gigajoule, because of maintenance issues with the pipeline giant TC Energy Corp.<ref name="FinPo_20190716">{{cite news| title = Alberta natural gas producers propose limiting production in exchange for royalty credits |work= Financial Post| access-date = September 9, 2019| date = July 16, 2019| url = https://business.financialpost.com/commodities/energy/alberta-natural-gas-producers-propose-limiting-production-in-exchange-for-royalty-credits}}</ref>

In 2003 Alberta produced {{convert|4.97|Tcuft}} of marketable natural gas.<ref name=GOV_AB_2004>{{citation |work=Government of Alberta |url=http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/docs/aboutus/pdfs/Alberta_Energy_Overview.pdf |title=Energy Overview |date=2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004154020/http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca/docs/aboutus/pdfs/Alberta_Energy_Overview.pdf |archive-date=October 4, 2006 }}</ref> That year, 62% of Alberta's natural gas was shipped to the United States, 24% was used within Alberta, and 14% was used in the rest of Canada.<ref name=GOV_AB_2004/> In 2006, Alberta consumed {{convert|1.45|Tcuft}} of natural gas. The rest was exported across Canada and to the United States.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Royalties to Alberta from natural gas and its byproducts are larger than royalties from crude oil and bitumen.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} In 2006, there were 13,473 successful natural gas wells drilled in Alberta: 12,029 conventional gas wells and 1,444 [[coalbed methane]] wells.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} There may be up to {{convert|500|Tcuft}} of coalbed methane in Alberta, although it is unknown how much of this gas might be recoverable.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}} Alberta has one of the most extensive natural gas systems in the world as part of its energy infrastructure, with {{convert|39000|km}} of energy related [[Pipeline transport|pipelines]].{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}