The University of Calgary says it is planning a potential relaunch of its oil and gas engineering program, which it suspended three years ago due to dwindling student demand.
The university stopped admitting students to its petroleum engineering bachelor’s degree program in 2021, after a multi-year period of low oil prices, corporate consolidation and widespread energy sector layoffs.
At the time, the U of C said it had seen a dramatic decline in student interest in the program, which also coincided with an uptick in interest in renewable technology and the energy transition.
Oil prices have since rebounded, and Canadian oil companies have been generating strong profits over the past two years.
The war in Ukraine has also put the issue of energy security in the spotlight, and global demand for fossil fuels continues to rise.
Tristan Goodman, president of the oil and gas industry group the Explorers and Producers Association of Canada, said energy companies were “very disappointed” by the university’s 2021 decision to halt the oil-and-gas degree program.
“It just didn’t make any sense, actually,” Goodman said.
“Yes, this industry goes up and down like any commodity-based sector, but I think it was just not a great move on the part of the university and I’m pleased to see they’re rectifying the problem.”
Goodman says the decline in interest from young people in oil and gas careers may have been driven partly by what he calls a “bad narrative” that existed at the time.
“Of course we need to continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but at the same time, this is a product that everybody in the world is using and I think a bit more pragmatism around that is entering the system now. In general, this is a fantastic industry to be in and it has very, very long prospects,” Goodman added.
Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canada, acknowledged that there are still jobs to be had in oil and gas and that will be the case “for decades.”
But he says young people interested in careers in energy need to be prepared to pivot and adapt their careers in the years to come.
“Oil and gas is a sunset industry, but as we phase out oil and gas and start safely shutting down and remediating those sites, there’s going to be lots of work to do,” Stewart says.
“A lot of the skills that you’re going to get are transferable to renewables too, for things like geothermal,” adds Stewart. “So I would tell young people to look for those types of knowledge and skills that you’re going to be able to pivot to other forms of energy. Don’t put all your eggs in that oil and gas basket.”