Based in Calgary, David Yager is a former oilfield services executive and the principal of Yager Management Ltd., an oilfield services management consultancy. He has been writing about the upstream oil and gas industry and energy policy and issues since 1979.
It was a jungle out there for the Canadian oilfield services (OFS) industry in the third quarter of the current fiscal year ended September 30,…
sub•si•dy: (s?b′s?-d?) n. pl. sub•si•dies 1. Monetary assistance granted by a government to a person or group in support of an enterprise regarded as being…
What you see is what you get. Unless, of course, things change. And so it goes in the highly uncertain world of trying to figure…
As Canada’s upstream petroleum industry struggles to deal with low commodity prices, more and more attention is being paid to the relationship between exploration and…
Despite the serial optimism that things will get better (because they can’t get worse) often expressed by this writer, the reality for oilfield services (OFS)…
The current market and mood indicates the industry is most likely at the bottom of the current contraction cycle. But for things to get better,…
One of the biggest challenges the oilfield services (OFS) sector must face in the short and medium term is adjusting to the reality that…
Writer’s prologue: I live on an acreage west of Calgary that sits above the Lochend Cardium light tight oil play. This zone has seen considerable…
The latest catch phrase to enter the lexicon of the oilpatch is “lower for longer.” One assumes it simply means oil prices are down and…
There are two things you’re not supposed to do in business journalism. One is to admit mistakes before somebody calls you on them. The other…
“There’s just no cash.” That’s the Coles Notes from a senior banker describing the book of oil service loans he manages for one of Alberta’s…
Big oil is taking no chances with the outcome of Alberta’s royalty review currently underway. In 2007, the industry was surprised when royalties were jacked…
In some ways the numbers don’t look that bad. For a group of 25 diversified, publicly traded Canadian oilfield service (OFS) companies, combined revenue of…
When oil becomes an election issue it is rarely good news. After Joe Clark’s minority PC government was defeated in 1979 over gasoline taxes in…
Things will get better because they can’t get worse. We’re at or near the bottom. Better times ahead.But you’d never know that based on oil…
The process has been around for so long that nobody questions its legitimacy. An exploration and production (E&P) company hires an oilfield service (OFS) contractor…
No sector of the economy should be considering the urge to merge more than Canada’s beleaguered oilfield services (OFS) business. The signals are powerful: overcapacity…
Alberta’s oilsands were front-page news again last week as Alberta Premier Rachel Notley stopped in Quebec en route to the annual premiers’ conference in St.…