Oil firms find reserves elusive

This decade’s high crude prices mean there’s plenty of incentive for Daniel O’Byrne, chief operating officer of Calgary-based Provident Energy Trust, to keep finding oil and gas for his company to produce. But he faces a problem – there’s less and less reserves to locate, and the costs of developing them haven’t stopped going up.

“Finding and development costs have had a huge ramp up in the last few years, but the size of the prize is getting smaller,” Mr. O’Byrne said. “Hunting [for reserves] in Western Canada has become much more challenging than it used to be, and it will be a struggle for the whole basin to stay competitive in a global market.”

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