Scott Moe to SK Oil and Gas Show: This is our moment

WEYBURN — Premier Scott Moe addressed a full house at the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show on June 3, telling the crowd of energy producers, "This is our moment."

In the speech he spoke of how large scale investments in Saskatchewan are the new normal, and that part of that will be in increasing oil production "beyond what we even ever thought it could be."

Moe told the crowd of more than 3,000 that Saskatchewan's energy industry is central to the province's economic future and to Canada's sovereignty.

Premier Scott Moe addresses the crowd at the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show on June 3. PHOTO BY BRIAN ZINCHUK

"This is our moment to advance our economy beyond what we ever dreamt it could have been 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 30 years ago," he said.

The premier pointed to $62 billion in private sector investment across 60 projects as evidence of a new normal for the province, and said the next $50 billion is already visible on the horizon.

"It's unlike any time in our provincial history," he said. "We have never seen that type of private sector investment flow into our province."

Moe said Saskatchewan's oil is not only in demand globally, but is the most sustainably and ethically produced on earth. He noted that both OPEC and the International Energy Agency project increasing demand for oil through 2050.

Oil is Saskatchewan's largest export to the United States at close to $10 billion annually, he said, accounting for more than 25 per cent of the province's international exports and employing 40,000 people across the province.

Moe said trading partners he visited abroad were unequivocal about their appetite for more Canadian oil.

"Every barrel that you can find to that coast, we would be interested in buying," he said, relaying what foreign partners told him.

He said the provincial government will be at the negotiating table on the future of the energy industry, guided by industry operators.

"We are going to do our level best to land in a place that is going to allow that investment to flow, and allow those drilling rigs to get back to work in a way that they never have in recent history," Moe said.

Federal MPs Steven Bonk and Andrew Scheer were also in attendance.

Source: pipeline.Online.ca