As economy cools, rumours heat up

Contracts closing as assignments completed, but plenty of work, reports Business Trades

By CAROL CHRISTIAN

Today staff

Rumours of massive layoffs from oilsands projects in response to current economic volatility seem to have been greatly exaggerated.

While one such rumour claims some 2,500 to 3,500 people were laid off from one site, the fact that construction contracts are coming to an end or have ended seems closer to the truth.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) denies claims it has laid off workers, saying, “The reduction of manpower was expected and planned for.”

Meanwhile at Suncor Energy, spokesman Brad Bellows denied any layoffs at the site, though the scaling down of its construction pace may result in some changes to construction schedules.

In its third-quarter report earlier this month, CNRL announced a strong third quarter as the project is in the final stages to full ramp-up, and in doing so, acknowledged its remaining construction workforce had been reduced by more than 50 per cent over the quarter.

“As each part of the plant was coming to mechanical completion and entering into the commissioning phase, construction contractors had completed their assignments and contract were getting closed,” Réal Doucet, CNRL’s senior vice-president of oilsands told Today in an email. He added that throughout the summer and fall, CNRL successfully completed the constructions of more than 20 plants at Horizon, hence the gradual contractors demobilization.

“As we speak, there is only one plant left to be turned over to operations which is the hydrotreater plant. This is where the majority the contractors left on site are concentrated. A small portion are helping with the commissioning,” wrote Doucet.

By the end of the year, CNRL will further reduce the number of contractors as the naphtha, gasoil and diesel hydrotreaters are turned over to operation for start-up.

“Every week, we are demobilizing about 200 to 400 contractors. Ultimately, only the continuous maintenance contractors will remain to support operation.”

He added no contractors on site are assigned to Phase 2/3.

“We were not planning to have any in 2009 since we were essentially doing engineering and procurement work only associated with phase 2/3. Prep work and infrastructure work associated to Phases 2/3 were included in Phase 1 development.”

The Building Trades of Alberta also says there’s no increase in the amount of layoffs, adding there’s plenty of work still being posted on union dispatches. The council consists of 16 trade unions with 22 locals and 55,000 union members covering all trades across the province.

“Some of the projects have been stretched out a bit, but at the end of the day with the way things are and the projects that are going on, there’s a lot of focus on the Fort McMurray area and … there’s a lot of work in the Fort McMurray area,” said Ron Harry, executive director.

Those jobs aren’t restricted to the oilsands. Harry said when it comes to the construction industry as a whole, there’s a lot of work in the Edmonton with refineries plus some institutional work. Looking even further south, he added there is significant work in downtown Calgary.

“As far as layoffs go, I don’t think so,” said Harry.

With construction schedules being stretched, he said it provides the building trades an opportunity to “take a breather, and to sit back and reflect on where we were, and what’s going to be going on in the future.”

Though he admits he doesn’t have a crystal ball, Harry said just because the price of oil changes, it doesn’t mean everyone is going to be laid off.

“It’s not going to happen,” he said referring to the number and scale of projects already underway in the oilsands. “Some of these projects are in fairly heavy at this point, and they’re not going to stop (them).”