For more than two decades, the bachelor’s program in oil and gas engineering at the University of Calgary was popular with students seeking a career in energy — and maybe a job in one of the office towers downtown.
But after a long downturn in the oilpatch, enrolment at historic lows and the energy landscape changing, the university’s engineering school is suspending admission of new students to the undergraduate program. Existing students will still be able to complete their degree.
“It’s really been a great program for us; it typically used to be a high-demand program,” said Prof. Arin Sen, head of the department of chemical and petroleum engineering. “It wasn’t a decision that we came to lightly.”
The university said it has no plans to abandon oil and gas studies. Sen said there are still various paths for engineering students to pursue careers in oil and gas, including a minor in petroleum engineering or graduate studies among any number of options.
“We’ve had partnerships with that sector for four decades … and we’re going to continue doing that.”
The news comes during a period of change in the broader energy sector, including the growth of renewable technologies, government commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions and uncertainty about long-term demand for fossil fuels.
In Canada, the oil and gas sector is also trying to emerge from a long downturn that resulted in thousands of layoffs. Meanwhile, energy demand continues to increase worldwide.
Many people who worked in oil and gas in downtown Calgary lost jobs during a prolonged downturn in the oilpatch, a time when enrolment in the bachelor of oil and gas engineering also declined. (Jeff McIntosh/TheCanadian Press)
The oil and gas engineering undergraduate program at the university’s Schulich School of Engineering was one of several routes students could follow to a career in the petroleum sector, including chemical, mechanical, civil engineering and others.
Typically, about 40 new students would enter the program annually, but it graduated fewer than 10 last year.
The university began a review of the program and — following consultations with students, alumni, faculty and industry — received provincial approval to suspend it.
Sen said oil and gas isn’t going away any time soon, but added it’s also clear people are looking at other forms of energy — not just in Alberta, but globally.
Sen said resources will be allocated to exploring ways to better support students who want to work in the province’s evolving energy industry, including oil and gas.
The energy engineering program, which has an oil and gas component but also exposes students to renewable energy and sustainability, has been an area of growth.
Engineering is not the only department feeling a shift in student interests.
Alberta is expected to see significant growth in renewable energy, a growing area of study at the U of C. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
The U of C has also seen a five-year decrease in the number of undergrads with a concentration in petroleum geology, which is offered by the department of geoscience.
But the faculty of science has seen growing interest and demand toward programs like energy science, said spokesperson Gloria Visser-Niven.
The faculty is responding with courses in energy transformation and distribution, mature energy fields like hydroelectricity and nuclear energy, and renewable energy, she said.
It’s also consulting with the engineering school on developing a new energy science minor program with a range of renewable energy courses and research opportunities.
“Energy education continues to evolve in response to global market forces and societal demand for lower carbon energy sources,” Visser-Niven said in an email.
WATCH | Why student interest in petroleum courses is waning:
Tough times in the industry and a shifting energy landscape are part of the reason enrolment is down, says Arin Sen, a professor and head of the department of chemical and petroleum engineering. 0:59
At Memorial University in St. John’s, N.L., where many engineering graduates have found work in the petroleum industry over the years, there’s also greater interest in renewable energy like solar, wind and tidal power.
“We’re also looking at … focusing a bit more carefully on greener technologies and these sorts of things,” said Dennis Peters, Memorial University’s acting dean of the faculty of engineering and applied science.
“That’s where the world is going and … we’re recognizing the environment we’re in.”
According to PetroLMI, which studies labour force data across the oil and gas sector, the industry is expected to hire a net total of 19,800 people over the next three years.
It forecasts that engineers and geoscientists will make up about seven percent of that number. That includes petroleum, civil, mechanical, mining and chemical engineers.
Amanda Quinn is entering her final year of study in energy engineering at the University of Calgary. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)
David Langille, who received a master’s degree in petroleum engineering at the U of C, is the incoming chair of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Canadian Educational Foundation, a group promoting energy literacy that offers scholarships to engineering students.
He said young engineers today are thinking about the future and the energy transition.
“New engineers, aspiring engineers, aspiring geoscientists, are definitely trying to future-proof themselves a little bit more,” Langille said.
“They’re thinking, ‘OK, hey, I’m a petroleum engineer now, but where else am I going to be able to work this in [to] the energy system in the future?”
Amanda Quinn wants a career in energy and sees opportunities across the spectrum.
She’s entering her final year in the U of C’s energy engineering program and is now on an internship at a company working on desalination technology to help provide drinking water.
Quinn, who has two sisters in oil and gas, hopes the conversation about the energy transition becomes less polarized and focused on stereotypes, and more focused on solutions.
“There’s so much more technology that we can develop in the future in regards to harnessing energy,” she said.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
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