Canada leads the world when it comes to the number of oil and gas companies that classify as small businesses.
According to a fact sheet by the Canadian Energy Centre, 96% of Canadian oil and gas firms are small businesses that have between 1 and 99 employees.
“In Canada, the oil and gas sector has a higher proportion of small businesses than other major industries, with the exception of construction. As of 2022, 96.0 per cent of all oil and gas energy firms had between 1 and 99 employees compared with 93.2 per cent in manufacturing, 89.6 per cent in utilities, and 99 per cent in the construction sector,” wrote the Canadian Energy Centre.
The share small businesses take up in the energy sector was also larger than in the United States, where 94% of oil and gas companies classify as a small-business.
Additionally, the US has a larger portion of big businesses with over 500 employees (3.3%) making up the sector when compared to Canada (0.6%).
Canada also had more oil extraction firms than Norway and the European Union. Canada had 1,115 companies with fewer than 200 employees while Norway reported 28 and the European Union reported 185.
“This slightly modified comparison shows that smaller businesses constitute 73.7 per cent of all oil and gas extraction firms in Norway, 94.3 per cent of all firms in the European Union, and 96.0 per cent of all and gas extraction firms in Canada,” wrote the Canadian Energy Centre.
“Canada’s oil and gas extraction sector is thus overwhelmingly composed of small and medium-size businesses relative to Norway and the European Union.”
The Liberal government recently announced it would be ending all subsidies to “inefficient” oil and gas projects.
NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has been especially critical about so-called big “oil corporations” receiving federal funding, without mentioning the role small businesses play in the sector.
The Canadian Energy Centre has also reported that demand for Canadian oil is reaching an all-time high.
According to analysts Canadian heavy crude is facing a “price renaissance” and beating out US products.
