On a roll: surges under way in production, reserves, employment and international expansion

The 2000 survey of the top 126 Canadian oil and gas companies by Oilweek Magazine show a clear improvement in the fundamentals of production and reserves, both at home and abroad. There has been an increase of 8.5 per cent in combined output of oil and gas equivalent to 4.008 million barrels per day, compared to 3.695 million in 1999. Oil production rose 7 per cent to 1.784 million barrels daily, up from 1.665 million a year ago. Gas production climbed by about one billion cubic feet per day, or 7.8 per cent, from 11.87 Bcf to 12.88 Bcf in 2000. Proven oil reserves rose 9.4 per cent to 8.9 billion barrels, while gas inventories climbed by 13.7 per cent to 42.5 trillion cubic feet. Employment figures rose by 9.5 per cent to 35,664 as of December 31, 2000, increasing by 3,100 from a year earlier. Production by employee in 2000 stood at 112.3 barrels of oil equivalent, marginally less (by 1.05 per cent) than in 1999. Foreign production emerged as a major factor in the growth of the Canadian oil and gas industry for the first time in 2000. International output by Canadian firms jumped 24 per cent in 2000 to a combined oil and gas equivalent of 644,514 barrels per day. Domestically, Imperial Oil remained the industry's size benchmark, but by expanding abroad, Alberta Energy Company, Gulf Canada and Nexen also made impressive gains. Statistical data is arranged in tabular form, the top 100 companies being listed alphabetically, ranking them by oil, gas, gas liquids production and reserves, as well as by number of employees and land holdings. Separate listings and rankings are provided for the top 100 natural gas producers, the top 25 natural gas reserves and the top 25 natural gas liquids reserves. A total of 22 companies are ranked on the basis of their international assets (natural gas and liquids production, reserves and land holdings). Employment and land holdings are ranked for 25 companies in each category