Work for Petro-Canada in Fort McMurray

Petro-Canada, the one-time Crown corporation and Liberal policy tool, is hiring in Fort McMurray and Calgary. Petro-Can's Jobs page has new listings for community affairs advisors (here and here) and operator positions.

The company has a long and controversial history in Alberta, and they are predictably against the recent royalty adjustments.

Lead Hand (Utilities and Offsites) job posting from Canadian Natural Resources

Are you an experienced Lead Hand with your "2nd Class Power Engineer’s Certificate of Competency recognized by the province of Alberta coupled with 15 years of operating experience in a thermal electric generating plant, utility or gas plant"?

Click to read the full job description and apply online.

Shell looking to harness nuclear energy for bitumen extraction west of Fort McMurray

Royal Dutch Shell PLC is hoping investments in nuclear energy will allow it to extract bitumen from hard limestone west of Fort McMurray. Unlike other Alberta oil sands projects, extraction from limestone requires vast amounts of electricity, which it hopes will come from nuclear power via the proposed nuclear power plant development from Energy Alberta Corp. in cooperation with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. In the new extraction process, underground electric heaters are used to liquify bitumen in an effort to bring it to the surface.

Husky Energy Inc. is another player in the region hoping to use nuclear energy to extract bitumen in partnership with Royal Dutch.

Source: Globe and Mail

Average wage $14.45 for teenaged workers in Fort McMurray

The federal goverment-run Service Canada Centre for Youth says the average wage for unskilled teenagers in Fort McMurray is $14.45, more than twice the Alberta minimum wage of $7. The centre aims to recruit 450 teenagers for summer work this year, up from last year's 300.

Danielle Comeau, a representative of the centre, had the following comments:

"If you work for so long with a company, a lot of them offer a bonus, which is to get people to stay with them. Also, companies, I've noticed, are offering housing, so that's a pretty neat perk — especially in Fort McMurray."

Source: CBC

Company profile: Albian Sands

Albian Sands is an oil sands development firm operating the Muskeg River Mine in northern Alberta, part of the Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP; a Shell/Chevron/Western Oil Sands Inc. joint venture).

They are also hiring!

I see you out there St. Johns, Newfoundland readers. Please drop a comment and let me know what I could add to this site to make it more useful, and please tell your friends.

Second oil tank collapses at Horizon site

A second oil storage tank has collapsed at the Canadian Natural Resources Horizon work site north of Fort McMurray. While no serious injuries occurred, the incident took place just three weeks ago that a tank collapse on the same site killed two Chinese migrant workers.

A stop work order in place from the first tank collapse likely prevented injuries and saved lives in this case.

Peter Janson, vice president of engineering for the Horizon site had this to say:

"It was good that the stop-work order was in place, and it's obvious to the rest of us that these stop orders that we get ... are put in place to avoid further injury in events like this where you just don't know what happened or what the causes are."

Safety is critical on any job site, and workers should be aware of their rights and what regulations are in place to protect them at all times. Visit the Alberta Workplace Health and Safety page of the Alberta Employment, Immigration, and Industry website to learn more - it could be your life at stake.

Source: CBC.ca

Excellent Fort McMurray editorial all should read

Fort McMurray Today is a daily paper published in Fort Mac by Sun Media. Their blog contains an excellent editorial with a balanced vision of Fort McMurray for those interested in working and living there:

"Streets of gold, or streets full of potholes?"

It is often easy to lose sight of the bigger picture when dollar signs are in the way, and the realities of the region must be taken into consideration before making the leap to work there.