have so much investment into their fields to
keep their licenses.
“Despite the fact that prices were in the
tank, they were still drilling because they
had to, to keep their rights to those fields.
We benefitted fromthat.”
Though rural in comparison to provincial
brethren like Edmonton (five hours by car)
and Calgary (eight hours), the county plays
a role as a major oil-field service hub for the
entire Peace Region – comprised of
northwestern Alberta and northeastern
British Columbia – which encompasses a
significant geographic area that’s home to
about 250,000 people within a 200-
kilometerradius.
Most of the people that come for work in
the region’s oil fields also live in the area,
King said, which is different from other
provincial oil locations like FortMcMurray,
where workers will live in camps and head
home to other places, with spending money
in hand, on their days off. The presence of
those people as full-time residents has been
a lure for development in the county, which
in turn has drawn even more people
July-August 2014
| BusinessWorld | 25
