While there’s certainly carnage and woe in the oil and natural gas sectors at the moment, reports of the death of the industry are exaggerated.
Many climate change activists and their sympathizers have been cheered by the dramatic drop in oil prices that coincided with, and were partly caused by, the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prominent among them is the outgoing leader of the federal Green Party of Canada, Elizabeth May. Apparently she thinks that the crisis in the oil patch, and the currently parlous state of the oil sands producers in particular, portends the demise of all involved.
The actual reason for current low oil prices in the spot and the near-term futures markets is a war for market dominance between Saudi Arabia and Russia, with the mercurial despots in charge of each nation reluctant to budge.