Paul Martin's Business Update - April 14th, 2014

Paul Martin's Business Update - April 14th, 2014

The provincial government picked up the better part of $50 million in the latest sale of oil and gas drilling and development rights. The government holds an auction every two months and it serves as an excellent indicator of how the industry is seeing things these days. High returns at the sale is a positive sign while weak figures send a negative signal.

Last week’s sale – which brought more than $47 million – was one of the most optimistic in a while.

When added to the February sale, revenues for the rights are now approaching $100 million, the figure the government budgeted for the entire fiscal year and more than it took in all of last year.

There was also one other interesting development in this auction. The highest bid went for rights in the Assiniboia-Rockglen region where drilling 60 years ago showed Bakken-type oil but the technology was not available to develop it. It appears the industry now believes the time has come as the footprint of the oil patch continues to expand.

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