December 20, 2018

Alberta Government Restricts Oil Production

The Necessity for a New Reference Point

- Peggy Morton -

PDF

• The $80 Million a Day Fraud
• Oil Production Cuts amid Claims of Saving Jobs - K.C. Adams
• The Trend to Fewer Workers Producing More Bitumen
• Labour Productivity and the Future of Work in the Oil Sands

For Your Information
• Data on the Economy and Workforce of Newfoundland and Labrador

• Note to Workers' Forum Readers

Alberta Government Restricts Oil Production

The Necessity for a New Reference Point

- Peggy Morton -

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley has ordered production cuts of 325,000 barrels per day of oil (b/d) beginning in January 2019. This amounts to about an 8.7 per cent reduction of total conventional and oil sands production to be prorated amongst all producers except the smallest whose first 10,000 b/d are exempt. Notley announced the measure in a televised address on December 2. She said enforcement will continue until 35 million barrels of oil in storage have been drawn down, which is expected to take three months. At that point, curtailment will be relaxed to about 85,000 b/d through to the end of 2019. The opposition United Conservative Party leader Jason Kenney supports the planned reduction although he said it offends his "free market" principles.

The Big Five producers, which together account for 80 per cent of oil sands production are divided on the government's decision, according to their private interests. Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. applaud the announcement. As expected, the integrated producers, Suncor, Imperial Oil and Husky, whose refineries and gas stations allow them to benefit from low crude oil prices, are opposed, warning of "unintended consequences" to competitiveness, trade, and future spending on projects.

A campaign orchestrated mainly by Scotiabank and Cenovus preceded Notley's announcement. The two contend the Canadian economy is losing $80 million a day due to the low price of Western Canadian Select (WCS), a blend of bitumen, diluent and synthetic oil. The loss is attributed to a lack of pipelines and access to tide water for exporting. The campaign has appealed to public opinion to favour expanding oil exports away from the present dependence on shipping mostly unprocessed oil south to U.S. refineries. It continues the fiction that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion to Vancouver is to access Asian markets, while in reality any additional bitumen would feed refineries in Washington State and California, and the insatiable demands of the U.S. war economy.

Working people in Alberta are caught up in the current reality of an oil exporting economy integrated into the U.S. war economy. That is their reference point and their lives depend on it to the exclusion of any discussion or prospect of an alternative. The economy is dominated by the extracting of oil and gas, refining some of it and shipping it out for consumption according to a demand and a market price decided by others in the U.S. imperialist controlled system of states. Little if any of the social wealth from oil and gas extraction has gone into building a more diverse self-reliant economy where resource extraction serves and strengthens the whole rather than having one sector, controlled from outside the province, dominate the whole with all the risks, uncertainty, insecurity and helplessness that entails.

Without conscious opposition, the prevailing reference point dominates the thinking of Albertans including the government. The financial oligarchy controls production and circulation of the oil resource and opposes any opposition to the reference point. The working people are the human productive force but lack any political or economic control over the economy. They are deprived of their right to control those matters that affect their lives and denied the possibility of introducing social responsibility into the direction of the economy.

Incessant propaganda and disinformation forces working people to envision no alternative and accept the defence of the established reference point, which includes proposals to build pipelines to everywhere, build refineries so that at least some of the value and jobs are kept in Alberta, assist the oligarchs who own and control production and circulation with whatever state pay-the-rich schemes and change in regulations they demand, and tolerate as unavoidable the recurring economic crises, which turn their lives upside down.

How do the people find and establish a different reference point that favours them? It begins with an exposure of the current reference point as anti-human and anti-conscious. Nothing good will come from appealing to the oligarchs to do what goes against their outlook, private interests and reference point. The working people have to see themselves as the necessary harbingers of a new reference point and direction for the economy. This is why they build their own institutions, especially political ones that constantly expose the political, economic and social conditions as they exist, challenge on every front the privileged elite in control, and lead discussion as to what is necessary to build the new outside and in opposition to the reference point of the ruling financial oligarchy and its institutions.

The $80 Million a Day Fraud

The Alberta ruling elite unleashed a fraud that the biggest problem facing the economy is the loss of $80 million a day because oil is captive within the province due to a lack of pipelines and access to more diverse markets especially in Asia. Production is said to outstrip pipeline capacity to carry oil to refineries and consumers outside the province. If only the oil could be shipped south to refineries and west to tidewater then problems in the economy would be resolved and the $80 million per day would accrue to Canada. Or so the story goes.

Newfoundland, where almost none of the offshore oil remains in the province even for refining, is an example of the consequences when the oil oligarchs have full access to tidewater (see For Your Information article on Newfoundland and Labrador below).

This fraud accepts holus bolus an economy dependent on oil production and circulation under the control of the global financial oligarchy. The interests of working people and general interests of society are not those of the financial oligarchy and can never be reconciled. Even if every barrel of oil extracted were to be shipped either unrefined or refined, the problems of the Alberta economy would remain because the control of that economy is not in the hands of the working people and independent of the global financial oligarchy.

The facts behind the $80 million per day loss are threadbare. The current large inventories of Alberta oil are mainly due to a prolonged two-month maintenance shutdown of refineries in the main export market for Western Canadian Select in the U.S. mid-west called Petroleum Administration Defence District (PADD) II.

Canadian exports to PADD II fell by about 600,000 barrels/day (b/d) during the prolonged shutdown, when refinery utilization was reduced from 98 per cent to 70 per cent, about one million b/d. The long shutdown was attributed to deferred maintenance during the previous period that allowed refineries to take advantage of high demand and low crude oil prices for feedstock.

One of the main proponents of the $80 million fraud is Scotiabank that regularly plucks numbers out of the air to support whatever certain oligarchs want their political representatives and governments to do. These numbers are endlessly repeated by the said governments and mass media as gospel creating a climate of hysteria within an economy held captive to ripping and shipping unrefined and refined oil to market. The panic and insecurity around jobs, which the working people truly feel, is used to justify pay-the-rich schemes in the name of dealing with the "crisis" and defending "good jobs."

In addition to regulating production amounts for a year, the Notley government has promised an additional $2.2 billion in pay-the-rich schemes and has solicited proposals from private interests to build new refineries, which the government will subsidize and accord speedy approval. Over $1 billion will go toward the purchase from private companies of 80 locomotives and 700 rail cars to ship bitumen because the oligarchs declare existing pipelines inadequate and the federal government has encountered opposition to expanding the existing Trans Mountain pipeline to Vancouver. An additional $1.2 billion in state handouts and loan guarantees will go to favoured oligarchs under the banner of diversification.

As for the balance sheets themselves, the Scotiabank's $80 million claim is pure fiction. It has even acknowledged that it does not know and cannot document the financial impact of the discount on WCS oil from Alberta, how much oil has been sold at what price and who benefits and who does not benefit from a low price. The $80 million fraud exists mainly as a talking point thrown out to stop investigation and discussion of what is really going on with Alberta's economy, what a new direction that favours the people would look like and how the people must and can gain the necessary political control to bring in a pro-social alternative.

Most oil is not sold on the spot market, but through contracts with refineries. Some producers state they were not impacted because they had secured pipeline space, contracts for a fixed delivery price, and access to the U.S. Gulf Coast where prices have remained comparable with West Texas Intermediate (WTI). The big integrated producers report large margins in their refining operations, where they supply crude oil to themselves, and at the gas stations they control where Canadians continue to pay high prices for fuel. What is true however is that royalties to the province are paid on profits on bitumen production and sales, and producers have been receiving a royalty holiday whether they sell cheap oil to themselves or not.

The government decision to impose production restrictions will be a boon for Cenovus, and was praised by Canadian Natural Resources Ltd (CNRL), MEG Energy and Nexen. Although Cenovus has a 50 per cent stake in two refineries in the U.S. mid-west, it has no upgrading or refining capacity in Canada. Cenovus has increased production without securing pipeline space, and left itself vulnerable to the spot markets through a decision last summer not to renew contracts with U.S. refineries. To compound its difficulties, Cenovus is heavily in debt following the $17.5 billion acquisition of Conoco-Phillips' oil and natural gas assets. These assets include significant natural gas operations in an environment of low natural gas prices.

The timing of Notley's announcement also raises many questions. The price of WCS actually hit rock bottom on November 13, and began to rise as soon as the U.S. mid-west refineries came back on line. Waiting until the refineries were again fully producing meant the spot price was certain to rise, allowing the government to claim success, and suggest that building the Trans Mountain expansion would do the same.

The financial oligarchy in the Alberta energy sector has extensive demands for pay-the-rich schemes, withdrawal of Bill C-69 and its replacement with a regulatory framework which gives them a free hand, and "pipelines in all directions." In the divisions amongst the oligarchs who control Alberta and Canada's energy resources one section has emerged as winners for the moment, but in no way is this a win for working people as it plays out strictly within the established reference point of an economy over which the working people have no control.

The narrow private interests of the oligarchs are in contradiction with the interests of working people, the general interests of society and a modern economy that is socialized and interrelated, needing cooperation not competition. The measures of the oligarchs and their political representatives exist within their narrow framework of an oil dependent economy completely under their control where the working people have no say and much of the social value from production leaves the country. Solutions to the problems the people and economy face are found in opposing the current direction and establishing measures that bring decision-making and control into the hands of the working people so that they can institute real solutions that favour them and the general interests of society.

Oil Production Cuts amid Claims of Saving Jobs

- K.C. Adams -

Irrationalism grips those who have no solutions to the real problems
of a socialized economy

The Alberta government's decision to restrict production of bitumen and conventional oil until stockpiles are depleted is being presented as a means to save jobs. In a letter to the CBC prior to the announcement, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said of the jobs to be saved through cutting production, "There are good jobs and made-in-Alberta businesses at stake. This is about more than numbers on a screen or economists talking. It's about working people, people with great skills, who have made Alberta the best place in Canada to live."

Rachel Notley is not being honest when she makes such irrational statements. Everyone knows cutting production will result in layoffs. Besides, it ignores the fact that layoffs have been ongoing even as production increases. The decision to restrict production is a narrow win for Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL), and possibly some smaller producers, while opposed by the integrated producers Suncor, Imperial Oil and Husky. The cuts provide no solution to the overall problems in the Alberta one-sided oil-dependent economy, and in no way are about saving jobs.

The loss of jobs in the energy sector is not a result of either decreased production or lack of pipelines. Production in the oil sands has soared through the 21st century, increasing 250 per cent from 2010 to 2018 alone, from 1.3 million barrels/daily (b/d) in 2010 to 3.27 million b/d in 2018. Currently nine projects are under construction, and more are on a list of approved projects. This growth in production continued despite the collapse of oil prices in 2014, Canada's commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GGE), the environmental damage, the Alberta government's mantra that it has a "climate action" plan, the unfulfilled policy objectives of diversifying the economy away from its lopsided dependence on exporting oil, and the growing danger and socially irresponsible practice of Alberta oil fuelling the U.S. imperialist war economy and its drive for global hegemony.

The number of jobs has not kept pace with the increase in production. In the design and engineering sector thousands of jobs have been eliminated since 2014, almost certainly permanently. The energy monopolies have embarked with a vengeance on a drive for productivity or "cost cutting" as they call it. To the oligarchs, the workers who produce the social wealth through their work-time are a "cost," which must be reduced regardless of the social consequences. Meanwhile the rich who seize the wealth workers produce are praised to the skies as "job creators" by the governments and pundits who serve them.

Disinformation about the existing situation and future prospects is aimed at depriving the workers of their own pro-social outlook, thinking and independent politics. The cartel parties who are entirely in the service of Big Oil try to outdo each other in claiming they are the ones defending the interests of the workers, such as saving jobs.

The starting point for the working people in defending their interests and getting a handle on the real problems in the economy is not agreement or disagreement with the propaganda of the cartel parties vying for power. The starting point is to look at the problems workers and the economy face without the blinders and disinformation of the financial oligarchy and its representatives. This requires what is called objectivity of consideration to see how the problems pose themselves and what solutions exist that favour the people and the general interests of society.

A working class perspective looks at workers' problems and those of the economy using a modern scientific outlook and new reference point. The outlook views the economy as socialized and interconnected requiring solutions that take into account not sectional and private interests of those competing with one another, but the broad interests and security of all and of society and the extended reproduction of an integrated economy, and how individuals and collectives relate to one another in a modern socialized economy of industrial mass production.

Using their own outlook as the producers of social wealth, the working people reject with contempt the outmoded outlook of the oligarchs who seek to increase their own private wealth, power, control and class privilege in opposition to the needs of the economy as a whole and its overall proper functioning without crises, and without regard for the well-being of the workers, the social and natural environment and general interests of society.

The narrow outlook of the oligarchs is based on expropriating maximum private profit for themselves from the social wealth workers produce. Such an aim is incompatible with social responsibility. With large-scale interrelated production giving rise to hitherto unknown problems in the economy and the social and natural environment and in the ensemble of human relations, the old narrow outlook associated with petty production and private competing ownership of the means of production is incapable of solving the real problems the modern economy, political institutions and society face.

The modern socialized economy requires the cooperation of all with its diverse sectors acting in conscious conformity with one another within new social forms and human relations that defend the rights of all. The so-called solutions of the financial oligarchy and its political representatives descend into irrationalism because their solutions are based on narrow subjective considerations in contradiction with the objective conditions.

The challenge for the working people is to organize themselves into their own institutions with their own outlook and thinking and by doing so become an unstoppable force that can wrest control of the socialized economy and society away from the financial oligarchy. In this way, the working people can open a path forward to humanize the economy and social and natural environment.

The people and society need new arrangements in the ensemble of human relations that have developed out of the modern conditions of a socialized economy of industrial mass production. We are thinking human beings who can analyze and find a way forward that upholds people's rights and interests within a new pro-social direction for the economy. The challenge the people face is to develop and strengthen their own pro-social outlook that demands the actual producers of social wealth are in control of the politics, economy and their lives. Who decides and who controls remain the most important questions that need to be addressed.

The Trend to Fewer Workers Producing
More Bitumen

According to announcements of the energy oligopolies and their pundits, the trend to fewer workers producing more bitumen, synthetic crude and conventional crude oil will accelerate in the future. This trend means that the working class must view problems in the oil sector as requiring a new pro-social direction for the economy where the actual producers become those in control, capable of providing solutions that favour the people and society. This requires the power to deprive the privileged rich oligarchs and their flunkeys of their power.

Cenovus, a winner in the inter-monopoly fight over government mandated production cuts, has reduced its work force by one-third since 2014, and states that it will not need to hire more workers as it develops new projects.

The introduction of driverless vehicles alone is expected to eliminate one in 10 jobs in oil sands mining. Suncor has announced plans for 150 driverless dump trucks or autonomous hauling systems (AHS), which means at least 400 driving jobs will disappear. About 800 heavy equipment operators work at the Suncor Base Plant and another 600 at Fort Hills. Canada Natural Resources Ltd. (CNRL) and Imperial Oil are making similar plans.

Suncor also says it has reduced the engineering time to design a new pad for steam-based oil sands wells to 800 hours, compared with about 9,100 hours between 2010 and 2015. The National Energy Board predicts that most new production in the future will be through expansion of existing projects, which will not require new engineering work. The Big Five energy monopolies (Suncor, Cenovus, CNRL, Imperial Oil and Husky) now control 80 per cent of all production. This consolidation has eliminated jobs and analysts agree that jobs lost in the Calgary head offices are not coming back.

In Alberta, periods of expansion of production have been associated with the construction of large-scale oil sands mines and attached upgraders. Many thousands of workers were involved in construction. But the future looks very different. New production from the oil sands will almost all be steam-assistance gravity drainage (SAGD) projects. The process heats and pumps out bitumen rather than mining it. The number of workers required for construction and ongoing production is significantly smaller for SAGD than for mining. Also, upgrading to synthetic crude is considered a thing of the past by those who make the decisions.

Labour Productivity and the Future of Work
in the Oil Sands

The labour productivity of oil and gas workers is measured by how many barrels of oil or equivalent a worker can produce on average in one day (BOE/d). Labour productivity measured in this way increased by 31 per cent from 2010 to 2016. The changes were most pronounced in the oil sands, where the BOE/d increased from 108.23 in 2010 to 126.75 in 2016 and is expected to rise during the next five years to 137.27.

Despite a five per cent increase in the amount of bitumen upgraded to synthetic crude, the number of workers employed in upgrading decreased by eight per cent in 2015-2016 alone. The amount of oil upgraded per worker is expected to rise by 33 per cent over the next few years.

A study funded by the federal government forecasts that labour productivity for oil sands mining will increase by 11 per cent over the next few years.[1] To put it another way, in 2010, 288 direct oil and gas workers were needed to produce and transport 10,000 barrels of oil or equivalent a day (BOE/d) in Canada. In 2016, only 233 workers were employed in direct production and transportation of the same output.

Workers have to confront the reality that all the cartel parties vying for power are instruments of the rich oligarchs who exercise control over the energy resources and direction of the economy to favour certain private interests. The NDP government of Rachel Notley has proved itself either unwilling or incapable of seeing any alternative, flailing one day at the BC government, then at the Trudeau Liberals, and resorting to the long discredited claims to "Make Alberta Great Again." None of this will solve the problem of the need for a new pro-social direction for the economy under the control of the actual producers, the working people.

The socialized economy of industrial mass production cannot remain under the control of competing oligarchs with their outmoded outlook to expropriate as much private profit as they can from a socialized economy on which all people depend and which needs cooperation amongst its sectors and parts and all humanity, not unbridled and frequently violent and crisis-ridden competition. The working class has emerged as the greatest product of the socialized economy with its own thinking and independent politics in conformity with the modern socialized conditions. The challenge is to build working class institutions and develop a modern democratic personality and social consciousness that can become strong enough to challenge the political rule and control of the financial oligarchy.

Note

1. Canada's Oil and Gas Workforce: Distribution, Work Patterns and Income, PetroLMI, August 2018.

(With files from Calgary Herald, CBC, Edmonton Journal, Huffington Post, Financial Post)

For Your Information

Data on the Economy and Workforce of
Newfoundland and Labrador

***

Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for all industries = $31.5852 billion

(Figures for GDP and workforce from 2017; GDP calculated annually at basic prices in 2012 year dollars)

Total NL employed workforce = 224,100 (full-time 190,900; part-time 33,200)

Average GDP production per worker = $140,942.44

Average GDP production per worker Canada-wide = $102,790.12

NL goods-producing industries GDP = $15.7795 billion

Percentage of total NL GDP = 49.96 per cent

Goods-producing workforce = 46,800 workers (full-time 45,100)

Percentage of total NL workforce = 20.88 per cent

This 20.88 per cent of the workforce produced 49.96 per cent of total GDP.

Average GDP production per goods-producing worker = $337,168.80 (compares with overall NL all-industries average of $140,942.44)

Average GDP production per goods-producing worker Canada-wide = $144,771.54

NL services-producing industries GDP = $15.9087 billion

Percentage of total GDP = 50.37 per cent

Services-producing workforce = 177,400 workers (full-time 145,800; part-time 31,600)

Average GDP production per services-producing NL worker = $89,677

Average GDP production per services-producing worker Canada-wide = $91,526.43

Percentage of NL employed workforce in services-producing industries = 79 per cent

This 79 per cent of the workforce produced 50.37 per cent of the total GDP albeit with a larger percentage of part-time workers.

The NL GDP percentage difference between goods production and services production is significant and quite different from the country-wide average of 70 per cent services-producing GDP and 30 per cent goods-producing GDP. This appears to arise from a large extremely productive resource extraction sector (mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction) that has not translated into increased employment and spending on social programs and public services or manufacturing for that matter. The GDP of the NL resource extraction sector is the third largest of Canada's provinces exceeded only by Alberta and Saskatchewan yet NL has the second smallest population at 519,716.

GDP Canada Wide

All industries (2017) = $1,893.024 billion

Goods-producing industries = $561.120 billion (29.64 per cent of total)

Services-producing industries = $1,330.840 billion (70.30 per cent of total)

Employed Workforce Canada Wide (2017)

Total, all industries = 18,416,400

Goods-producing industries = 3,875,900 (21.05 per cent of total workforce)

Servicing-producing industries =14,540,500 (78.95 per cent of total workforce)

Canada wide, 79 per cent of the workforce produced 70 per cent of the GDP as services, while in NL, 79 per cent of the workforce produced only 50.37 per cent of the GDP as services. This has to be further investigated as social programmes are in part funded through the federal Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer and certain provinces receive equalization payments. NL received 737 million in transfer payments ($1,395 per capita) in 2017 but no equalization payment since 2012. It does speak to how highly profitable the resource sector is for the global financial oligarchy, especially when pliant governments allow resources to be extracted with very little value returned to the people for their well-being and security and the extended reproduction of a diverse stable and self-reliant economy.

NL Resource Sector

Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction GDP = $11.1432 billion

Employed workforce in this sector = 8,100 workers (all full-time)

GDP per worker = $1,375,703.70

For this sector the enormous production represents a GDP per capita of the total NL population = $21,440.94

The national average per capita for this sector = $ 3,785.02

The amount for the sector was 35.28 per cent of NL's total GDP. This GDP was produced by 4.46 per cent of the employed workforce.

It must be noted that almost all this raw material production is shipped out of the province with very little used in secondary production let alone as the basis for a petrochemical or steel industry and tertiary manufacturing. This is starkly evident when looking at oil and gas extraction separately.

Oil and gas extraction alone = $8.4211 billion (all offshore)

Oil and gas extraction GDP as percentage of goods-producing industries GDP = 53.37 per cent

Oil and gas extraction GDP as percentage of total GDP = 26.66 per cent

All NL oil is extracted offshore. Most of the oil is then shuttled to the Newfoundland coast for shipment in tankers to refineries outside the province. NL has only one small refinery, the North Atlantic Refinery in Come by Chance. The only other operating refinery in the Maritimes is the New Brunswick Irving Refinery in Saint John.

The number of workers on the offshore oil rigs is reported to be around 1,900 for the four operations.[1] The only associated manufacturing production is immediate support for offshore oil and gas extraction. Needless to recount that working people in NL have always had problems finding suitable work with many migrating to other provinces, especially after the desstruction of the cod fishery.

Of the massive oil and gas extraction GDP, it appears only a fraction remains in the province for refining and possible further manufacturing although little accounting is available revealing where the value ends up. The situation represents the dream of certain Alberta energy oligarchs and their political representatives in the cartel parties: all oil ripped and shipped at tide water without ever touching land.

NL petroleum refinery's GDP = $27.1 million

Petroleum refinery's GDP as percentage of oil and gas extraction GDP = 0.32 per cent

Petroleum refinery's GDP as percentage of total NL GDP = 0.086 per cent

This compares with the oil and gas extraction GDP as percentage of total GDP = 26.66 per cent

Mining and quarrying except oil and gas extraction; mostly iron ore and nickel mined in Labrador = $2.3684 billion

Workers at the iron ore mine at Wabush/Labrador City, the nickel mine in Voisey's Bay and some smaller mines produced a total of $3.3 billion worth of ore in 2010, around 3.5 per cent of the NL GDP for that year. The iron ore transported out of Labrador accounts for 55 per cent of Canada's total production. Almost all mining production is shipped out of the province.

The dollar difference from year to year in GDP of raw material production points to a central problem of this method of calculating the value of what workers produce. Value arises from the work-time of working people using means of production to transform material into useful products. GDP does not report work-time but its representative in money and basic prices, which the financial oligarchy manipulates to serve its private interests. As prices fluctuate so does the value of production according to its determination as Gross Domestic Product. One year the production of mineral wealth can be valued at $3.3 billion and a few years later a similar amount of minerals produced with about the same work-time magically falls in GDP value to $2.3 billion. This points to the necessity for a modern accounting method and formula to determine prices of production that puts the working class and its work-time at the centre of the socialized economy from where all value is produced and calculated. A proper scientific accounting and rendering of production would benefit the working people who produce the value, and would serve to enhance and develop their control of the economy for the common good and the humanization of the social and natural environment. Bringing the socialized economy under the control of the working people forms an important front in the struggle to develop the modern democratic personality.

NL Services-Producing Industries Further Examined

NL Educational Services

NL workers employed in educational services = 15,200

Percentage of total employed workforce = 6.78 per cent

Percentage of NL population = 2.9 per cent

NL educational services GDP = $1.6217 billion

Educational services GDP percentage of total NL GDP = 5.13 per cent

Average educational services GDP production per employed educational worker = $106,690.79

Average educational services GDP production per employed educational worker Canada-wide = $78,221.01

Per capita GDP of NL educational services = $3,120

Per capita GDP of Canada-wide educational services = $ 2,821.99 (from 2016 figures)

NL Health Care and Social Assistance

Workers employed in NL health care and social assistance sector = 39,400

Percentage of total employed workforce = 17.58 per cent

Percentage of population = 7.58 per cent

Health care and social assistance GDP = $2.2478 billion

Health care and social assistance GDP percentage of total NL GDP = 7.12 per cent

Average health care and social assistance services GDP per NL employed worker in the sector = $57,050.76

Average health care and social assistance services GDP production per worker in the sector Canada-wide = $55,145.60

NL per capita health care and social assistance GDP = $4,325

Canada-wide per capita health care and social assistance GDP = $3,667.84

Note

1. The global financial oligarchy owns and controls all companies involved in NL offshore oil and gas extraction except for the 8.5 per cent ownership of the federal government in Hibernia through the Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation.

Hibernia -- The Hibernia offshore oil field is owned jointly by ExxonMobil (33.125 per cent), Chevron Resources (26.875 per cent), Suncor (20 per cent), Canada Hibernia Holding Corporation (8.5 per cent), Murphy Oil (6.5 per cent) and Equinor (5 per cent). Two hundred and eighty workers work on the oil rig for three week shifts. Tankers shuttle the oil from the platform to an onshore transshipment facility at Whiffen Head in Come By Chance. Daily production capacity = 230,000 barrels of oil.

The NL government reports total production from the Hibernia field from 1997 to 2006 was 733,000,000 barrels with an estimated value of $36 billion. The figures do not include an accounting of how much value left the province or the company profit and interest profit expropriated from the total value workers produced.

Terra Nova -- The formerly state-owned company Petro-Canada developed the Terra Nova offshore oil field project now owned by Suncor Energy (37.675 per cent), Exxon Mobil (19.00 per cent), Equinor (15.00 per cent), Husky Energy Operations Ltd. (13.00 per cent), Murphy Oil Company Ltd. (10.475 per cent), Mosbacher Operating Ltd. (3.85 per cent) and Chevron Canada Resources (1.00 per cent). Daily production capacity = 150,000 barrels of oil.

White Rose -- Offshore oil project owned by Husky Energy Operations Ltd. (72.5 per cent) and Suncor Energy (27.5 per cent). Daily production capacity = 75,000 barrels of oil.

Hebron-Ben Nevis Oil Field -- Offshore oil project owned by ExxonMobil (36 per cent), Chevron Corporation (27 per cent), Suncor Energy (23 per cent), Equinor (10 per cent), and Nalcor Energy (4 per cent). Daily production capacity = 150,000 barrels of oil.

Note to Workers' Forum Readers

This is the last issue of Workers' Forum for this year. We will resume publication in mid-January 2019.

In the meantime, please continue to visit CPC(M-L)'s website for up to date information, such as on the recent announcement by the Public Service Alliance of Canada about the state of negotiations with the Treasury Board, demonstrations in Vancouver in support of the Unist'ot'en Land Defenders and other just struggles. We also encourage you to look at and share the TML Daily 2018 Photo Reviews.

Congratulations on a year of militant stands to affirm the claims which belong to the people by right. Next year the workers can expect the assaults against them to increase which means they need to double their resolve to defend the rights of all. Being an election year, the workers can also expect the parties which form the cartel party system along with the media and polling companies and those who call themselves analysts, to increase their disinformation with the aim of keeping the workers disempowered. This has already started with a barrage of diversionary issues and polling results. Every attempt will be made to divide the working class and people by telling them who is worthy of their support so as to deprive them of their own thinking and initiatives. The time to develop independent politics to withstand this onslaught is now! The workers require their own thinking and actions based on analysis so as to resolve the crisis in their favour.

We wish you all a safe and happy end of the year.

Workers' Centre of CPC(M-L)

---

PREVIOUS ISSUES | HOME

Website:  www.cpcml.ca   Email:  office@cpcml.ca