Saskatchewan Development Context
Saskatchewan is Canada’s second largest oil producing province after Alberta. Oil production increased dramatically since the late 1980s until 2000 when production evened off until 2011, the start of the most recent surge in oil production. 2014 was Saskatchewan’s all-time record year for oil production, with 29,817,376 cubic metres (over 187,000,000 barrels) produced that year. This dramatic rise in production is a result of the introduction of new horizontal drilling technology and the application of multi-stage fracking technology as well as other enhanced oil recovery methods. Gas production also had a period of growth, having spiked from 1984 until 1995. This was followed by a a slight increase up until the province’s record year of gas production in 2006 (with 9.6 million cubic metres produced that year). Saskatchewan’s 2014 gas production, however, was below 1989 levels. Oil and gas wells have increased rapidly in the province. Over 47,000 oil and gas wells were in operation in 2013- 29,878 oil wells (a record high)and over 17,000 gas wells (gas wells have been in decline since 2008, the record year for the number of gas wells). In terms of cumulative production, since the beginning of the oil and gas industry until 2014, 929,507,742 cubic metres (over 5.8 billion barrels) of oil and 264,815,383 cubic metres of gas were produced in Saskatchewan (CAPP 2015).
Oil production is concentrated in the southeast of the province in the Bakken Formation, currently in the Viewfield North and Weyburn oilfields, as well as in the southwest (CAPP 2015). Major future oil production is anticipated to continue primarily in the southeast region, with gas production in the central and southwestern regions of the province.
This large and growing oil and gas extraction sector has an extensive environmental footprint. Beyond the obvious risks of accidents such as spills and blowouts, the web of roads, well pads and other infrastructure accompanying oil and gas development fragment grasslands, the habitat of numerous at risk species. The industry also contributes to the introduction of invasive plant species that threaten rare native plants. Nasen et al. (2010) documented widespread disruption to native grasslands from the oil and gas industry in the southwest of the province that persists five decades after well construction and spans as far as twenty-five metres from oil and gas infrastructure. Particularly fragile areas, such as grasslands and sand dunes, may be impossible to restore or remediate after disruption.
In addition, the oil and gas industry’s water use in the drought-prone province—as well as water (and land) contamination by produced water— poses risks for species and human communities. Saskatchewan’s oil and gas industry also contributes to air pollution in the province, a problem compounded by Alberta’s booming oil and gas industry which negatively impacts soil and freshwater bodies in Saskatchewan (as much as 70% of Alberta’s acidifying emissions end up in Saskatchewan). Growing greenhouse gas emissions are another environmental problem given that Saskatchewan has the highest per capita emissions in Canada (just slightly above Alberta)[1] and is already experiencing the impacts of climate change (hotter, drier climates causing drought and shifts in vegetation). In 2013, nearly 20% of Saskatchewan’s GHG emissions came from just ‘fugitive emissions’ from the oil and gas sector according to Environment Canada’s “National Inventory Report.” Finally, oil and gas projects interfere with or impede other land uses (such as ranching, agriculture, tourism, hunting, and medicinal plant gathering) and damage or destroy sites of archeological and historical value, particularly to indigenous peoples (Great Sand Hills Advisory Committee 2007).
References
Great Sand Hills Advisory Committee, 2007. Great Sand Hills Regional Environmental Study.
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), 2015. Statistical Handbook for Canada’s Upstream Petroleum Industry, Calgary. Available at http://www.capp.ca/~/media/capp/customer-portal/documents/258990.pdf?la=en
Nasen, L.C., Noble, B.F., Johnstone, J.F., 2011. Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Lease Sites in a Grassland Ecosystem. Journal of Environmental Management 92, 195-204.
[1] Based on 2013 emissions data from Environment Canada’s 2015 "National Inventory Report" and 2013 population data from CANSIM Table 051 0001.
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The content for this province was peer-reviewed in April 2015. We’d like to acknowledge the assistance of the external reviewers and Brittany McNena who contributed to this webpage content.
