In an article published by Insurance Business Canada, CNA’s Mary Robichaud discusses the challenges faced by oil and gas contractors and how CNA continues to provide package solutions.

The oil and gas industry in Canada has been in a slump for the past couple of years, with net earnings plagued by record-low pricing, increased corporate tax rates, and the introduction of a coordinated nationwide carbon tax in 2019 – and that was all before the COVID-19 pandemic caused demand for oil and gas to plummet as countries around the world locked down to prevent spread of the coronavirus.

With the oil and gas industry at a low, investments in drilling and production projects in Canada were shelved, which meant contractors couldn’t get work and the unemployment rate in the industry increased. This pushed some contractors to look for work abroad, often in the United States, as they wait for the Canadian economy to improve.

The situation was not helped by the COVID-19 pandemic. Mary Robichaud, assistant vice president of underwriting at CNA, based in Calgary, Alberta, explained: “The global economy shut down. Everybody across the world stored their oil and put equipment into storage because there wasn’t enough demand, and that impacted the industry.”

But as the global economy has started to recover and countries, including Canada, are slowly reopening, some positive trends are emerging. The price of oil and gas has rebounded, and drilling operations have picked back up in Western Canada.

For more information and personal insights, read the full feature: ‘Helping Canada's Oil And Gas Industry Recover’ published in Insurance Business Canada.