A1 515 DOUGLAS DRIVE NEW LISTING! MLS® #:SK743371 $339,000 This 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhome is just down the st�eet � om Elementar� & Middle Schools. Leah Bragg REALTOR® Thursday, September 6, 2018 swbooster.com Serving Southwest Saskatchewan 306-741-2622 Leah Bragg Royal LePage Formula 1 Leah Bragg REALTOR® Super Walkers SCOTT ANDERSON/SOUTHWEST BOOSTER Halee Bridgeman from Stride Physio led the participants at the Parkinson SuperWalk in a warm up session before walkers completed a route around Riverview Village Estates. Additional details of Swift Current’s SuperWalk fundraiser appear on Page 4. SOUTHWEST Energy Tour provides important insight into challenges Southwest companies face SCOTT ANDERSON three-day listening tour on August 29 remove impediments to allow energy Energy and Resources back in Febru- SOUTHWEST BOOSTER to 31. She had an opportunity to tour a companies to take advantage of op- ary, said the listening tour provided her series of oil and gas industry operations, portunities when economic conditions with some key insights into some of the Saskatchewan’s Minister of Energy along with visits to talk with municipal improve. issues facing companies in the South- and Resources Bronwyn Eyre was given governments and RM councils. “That’s where we need to hear from west. a first-hand look at energy sector com- “This tour was very important to see industry so that we can make the deci- “We know that there’s some work to panies operating in the region during a the industry at ground level,” Steele said sions that are the right decisions that be done, and I’ve heard some of that the tour through the Southwest last week. of the three day tour opportunity. don’t put industry at a disadvantage of last couple of days - so land reclama- Eyre was accompanied by Cypress Steele, who serves as the Legislative doing business in Saskatchewan,” he tion, orphan wells, insurance, tax - so Hills MLA Doug Steele and Swift Cur- Secretary to the Minister of Energy and said. its been a listening tour.” rent MLA Everett Hindley during a Resources, said government needs to Eyre, who took over the helm of the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 A2 SOUTHWEST BOOSTERX THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 2 SOUTHWEST 2 Eyre tours energy sector spots across the region THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE Her tour included visits with Crescent Point Energy, Welltraxx, North American Helium, Whitecap Resources, Millenium Land Ltd., Diamond Energy Services, plus a tour of the combined cycle natural gas Chinook Power Station being constructed by SaskPower. contact us “I think it was really just about…listening to people on • Phone: 306-773-9321 the ground. Seeing eld oper- • Fax: 306-773-9136 ations, which we did exten- • 30 4th Avenue NW sively. ree hours at Whitecap Swift Current, SK, S9H 0T5 virtually, and about two or three hours at Crescent Point yester- • www.swbooster.com day. But also a lot in between,” Eyre said. “It was really a prior- advertising sales ity for me to just get to the heart of what’s going on here.” Kara Stephanson, While Eyre’s tour occurred sales manager, before the Federal Court’s de- 306-770-2223 cision to overturn approval for [email protected] the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the topic of pipe- Melissa Richardson, sales, lines and Ottawa’s Carbon Tax 306-770-2226 were frequently mentioned [email protected] topics of discussion. “Our biggest priority in Jerry Butterworth, sales, Energy and Resources is pipe- 306-770-2227 [email protected] lines. It really is. And of course some regulatory issues that we’re facing, and the threats Saskatchewan’s Minister of Energy and Resources Bronwyn Eyre speaks at a luncheon in Swift Current at newsroom we’re facing from the Federal the conclusion of her listening tour of the Southwest. Government is up there as Scott Anderson, editor, well.” demonstrated their resiliency 306-770-2224 [email protected] “We face, of course, regula- despite the daily challenges tory and policy resistance from they face. Steven Mah, sports reporter, Ottawa - on the Carbon Tax, on “I guess the most important 306-770-2225 the proposed Clean Fuel Stan- thing in terms of resilience is [email protected] dard, and on Bill C69.” not getting too negative. Re- “A lot of people don’t know maining optimistic about what commercial print much about Bill C69, but they can happen and what we can should because it could add try to do. But its been a di cult Kara Stephanson, years onto environmental as- time, so absolutely the sector’s 306-770-2223, sessments, and inject less resilient because they have [email protected] transparency and much more been thrown a number of chal- uncertainty into project de- lenges in recent years.” classi eds velopment.” She added that one of her Classifi eds “These are serious, serious take aways from her tour was 1-306-773-9321 threats to us. All we can do is the resiliency of the sector in Fax: 306-773-9136 give everything we can - which the Southwest. I truly believe that we are - to “ e hospitality of the people classifi [email protected] look at everything else we can down here. The amazing re- do. And take as much of a strong silience…and energy and in- circulation stand as we possibly can.” novation and capacity for such 306-773-9321 She touted the importance opportunity,” she said. “ ere’s Cypress Hills MLA Doug Steele, who serves as the Legislative Secretary of Saskatchewan’s energy sec- a real entrepreneurial sense that to the Minister of Energy and Resources, participated in the Southwest regional tor to the provincial economy. one gets here in the Southwest.” listening tour this past week. managers Today, oil and gas production Michael J. Hertz, Senior Vice is responsible for an estimated President & Group Publisher 15 per cent of Saskatchewan’s GDP. PSAC revises forecast for quieter drilling year “Recently, Saskatchewan’s petroleum sector has shown In their third update to their 2018 Canadian Drilling Activity Forecast released on July 31, clear, continued signs of growth the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) decreased their drilling activity fore- and activity. e value of our cast. ey were anticipating 6,900 wells would be drilled Canada wide, a drop from the 7,400 Funded by the Government of Canada oil production through 2017 predicted back in April. If their prediction remains on track, Canada’s total number of wells was $9.2 billion, a signi cant drilled would be approximately 200 less than in 2017. increase from $6.9 billion in PSAC’s forecast for Saskatchewan was adjusted to 2,428, down from their prediction of 2,931 2016. Last year, there was an back in April. estimated $4 billion of invest- “While the number of active drilling rigs is currently up three to ve per cent over last year ment and new exploration and depending on the week, the rest of the oil eld services sector is marginally busier than it was development. at was an in- last year at this time,” PSAC President and CEO Tom Whalen stated in the July 31 forecast. crease of 42 per cent from the “When we look at the rst half of ‘18 in aggregate, we drilled 200 less wells than in the rst half previous year,” she said. of ‘17 but at the same time, the average length per well increased by approximately 190 me- Mail Registration Number: 005950104 With resource development ters. In general terms, revenue numbers for our sector are up year over year but we note that important to Saskatchewan’s several publicly traded Canadian service companies are reporting minimal improvement in future, she said government the quality of bottom line earnings; many are sitting at near breakeven or are still in negative The Southwest Booster is continues to help resource territory. As we’ve said on previous occasions, this is not sustainable from a business continu- published by Swift Current companies be well positioned ity and competitiveness perspective. It’s also a compounding symptom of the sector’s lack of Holdings Ltd. Partnership, an affi liated company to ALTA to meet that future by provid- attractiveness for investment.” Newspaper Group LP ing a stable, predictable and “Obtaining access to tidewater continues to be mission critical for both our oil and gas reliable business environment. weighted exploration and production customers and would mean an additional $25 billion She added that compan- for Canada.” ies across the Southwest have A3 SOUTHWEST BOOSTERX THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 3 SaskAbilities Awareness Week A special fl ag raising celebration was held at Swift Current City Hall on Tuesday mor- ning to mark the start of SaskAbilities Awareness Week in the City. Swift Current Mayor Denis Perrault was assisted by clients and staff from SaskAbilities dur- GRAND ing Tuesday’s fl ag 41309740 raising. There is RE-OPENING also an Awareness th Week Commun- September 7 ity BBQ at Market SLGA LICENSED LIQUOR VENDOR Come in and see your Brand New Store! Square today from GRAND OPENING PROMOS, WELCOME 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The week wraps 1.75L GIFTS AND SPECIAL GIVEAWAYS up on Friday, Sep- $51.00 New & Exclusive tember 7 with a SWIFT CURRENT MALL (ACROSS FROM PEOPle’s jeWELLERS) SaskAbilities Open 1.14 L Wines Available House and Special $33.00 306-773-7787 Needs Equipment Grand Re-opening Permittees one phone call can save you Proudly supporting from 2 to 4 p.m. 10% on all your Beer & liquor. Canadian manufacturing. www.suzannes.biz Join us for Swift Current’s BEST Sunday Brunch Buffet New Hours! 9:00am-2pm Salads, Desserts and 13 hot items including Eggs Benedict and Houston Pizza’s Famous Lasagna and Pizza! 323 N.