Canadian oil and gas producers spent 2023 preparing for the startup of the TMX, with its 590,000 bbls/d of increased oil egress to tidewater, while awaiting LNG Canada in 2025 to relieve longstanding natural gas export capacity concerns. 

Commodity prices fell from the highs of 2022, with Western Canadian Select (WCS) down 17 per cent year-over- year, and AECO gas prices down 54 per cent, causing a drop in cash flows. But with new egress coming on stream, top operators increased capital spending to boost reserves and production capacity. 

By June 2024, natural gas prices declined further, prompting some drilling cuts, while oil prices remained steady and the optimism for pricing to rebound in 2025.

Outside of pricing risks, the industry faces ongoing challenges from ESG pressures, regulatory risks, and the energy transition, as operators adapt to a shifting landscape.

The 2024 Top Operators Report reviews the most important trends that emerged in 2023, and how these will shape the business landscape going forward.

Included in this report:
  • What increased oil and gas export capacity means for Canada's top operators
  • Top operators spending in 2023 in anticipation of improving market access
  • Building positions in key plays is a strategic advantage 
  • How operators are leveraging tools to protect netbacks
  • Some top operators are placing early bets on energy transition technologies

To sort through these challenges, we are leveraging the experience of professional services firm KPMG in Canada to provide insight into the direction the industry is headed and what strategies operators could pursue to thrive in a rapidly shifting environment.

Data analysts from Evaluate Energy are providing context to the stream of information coming from corporate financial reporting and other relevant documents. Subsurface and operational data from geoLOGIC systems provides further context on activity throughout the WCSB and where it is headed.

We hope the 2024 Top Operators report provides some context to how the industry has been transformed the last five years and generates conversation on what comes next. You can download this report by filling out the form on the right.