For companies working on oil-sands projects, the labor market is incredibly strained and could get worse if more employees aren't brought into the fold, according to Samir Kayande, who manages analytics for Calgary-based research firm Ross Smith Energy Group Ltd. Kayande says Alberta is 16,000 construction workers short of the number needed within the next two years, and fewer workers can lead to lengthy project delays. For example, he says, the cost of Shell Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Expansion One has almost doubled, and is stretched out by an additional year. Full project staffing has been delayed one year for Canadian Natural Resources' Horizon project. And, Enerplus Resources reports the Total SA-operated North Mine project start-up will be delayed by two years, to 2013. "One way of increasing the pool of available construction workers is to adapt the industry's long-established practice of using extended work-rotation schedules in remote locations," Kayande says. For more on this, see the September issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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