From Europe to Africa to Asia, demand for oil and natural gas is soaring, pushing crude oil and natural gas prices to levels not seen since the middle of the last decade. As a result, Canada’s crude oil and natural gas exports have increased; between July and September 2021, Canada exported $31.9 billion of oil and natural gas, primarily to the United States, a rise of $6.1 billion or 19 per cent from the same period in 2019.  

According to a recent customized Statistics Canada analysis prepared for the Canadian Energy Centre, it turns out that the impacts to the Canadian economy from a $100 million surge in crude oil and natural gas exports — about one per cent of total annual oil and gas exports — are substantial.   

A simulation found that each $100 million increase in Canadian oil and gas exports in 2022 leads to an estimated 289 direct and indirect jobs and $40 million in labour income. And each $100 million increase in oil and gas exports expands the Canadian economy by $86 million. 

Canadian oil and gas exports not only support direct jobs and income in the oil and gas industry but also support indirect jobs and income across Canada in such diverse areas as architectural engineering and related services, machinery, equipment and supplies, merchant wholesalers, employment services, computer system design, repair construction, truck transportation, and food services, just to name a few.  

Exports of oil and gas products are the life blood of the Canadian economy. In fact, the cumulative value of Canada’s oil and natural gas exports is over $1.94 trillion between 1988 and 2019 (in real dollars). 

According to the Canada Energy Regulator, crude oil has continually been one of the top five commodities exported from Canada, often alternating with passenger cars and light trucks as the top exported product. 

Increasing Canadian oil and gas exports is critical to our nation’s recovery from COVID-19, creating jobs and income for Canadians from coast to coast to coast. 

Ven Venkatachalam and Lennie Kaplan are with the Canadian Energy Centre, an Alberta government corporation funded by carbon taxes. They are authors of the fact sheet Projected Impact of Increased Oil and Gas Exports.    

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