Ft. McMurray and the Smell Of Money
Just got back tonight from a site trip to Ft. McMurray, Alberta. Home of the Athabasca Oil Sands. The largest deposit of known oil reserves in the world. It contains more oil than all the known reserves in Saudi Arabia. Believe me it is a happening place. There are Billions of dollars of investment going on in this area that is sure to keep Ft. McMurray in the limelight for many years to come. Another thing it will do is keep the cost of real-estate up to unbelievable levels. A house that sold for around $100,000 about 10 years ago is now selling in the $350,000 to $400,000 range. Newer homes oviously more than that. I'm told that starter mobile homes are around $250,000. Condos, that were located near where I stayed when I was up there about 8 years ago are now going for about $270,000. Trust me, they are not very special or very big. I'm told the city is not releasing a lot of land for new development every year. Instead they are releasing it at rates that will keep the prices up for a while.
One other thing I remember was the "Smell of Money". I can report it is still there. The smell of money is from the process of getting the oil out of the sand. It is distinct and you can't miss it. But nobody complains as it is the city's life blood. Plus it is hard for us in Edmonton to complain about it as with all the development, the engineering firms in Edmonton and Calgary will be busy for a while. Hopefully it will last about 15 to 20 years until I retire :-)
If you ever get the opportunity to come up and see the enormity of the operations in Suncor, Syncrude, AlbianSands along with the future plants like Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) Horizon Project, it is well worth the trip.
Want a job in the Oil Sands? Ft. McMurray Jobs
2 comments:
It's interesting - quite a few reports have come out recently that say we're either just ahead of or just past the historical peak in oil production, and it's all down hill from here. I'm not sure what their assumptions are, and whether they're taking the full oilsands potential into account, but I think you're pretty safe for the length of your career! In fact, as the easily-pumped oil gets rarer, the oilsands are likely to get more important rather than less...
As long as it can last about another 40 years I should be OK. That should put my Freedom 85 on track :-)
There is no doubt that there is a LOT of oil up there. There are new methods to get the oil out that are in trial and some have potential. What I have found is the instruments that I have designed are just bigger. The piping is larger than your average plant so things like flow meters and valves take on a whole new cost structure from what I am used to...but it is fun spending other peoples money :-)
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