Not long ago few wanted to venture up in the wilds of the north far reaches of the Canadian province or Alberta . Few even remember when the whole sector was a backwater part of the North West Territories . It took American money from Standard Oil to change that . This is now the Texas of the nation. On top of that its no longer Calgary which is the center-point of this base industry but rather that once forbidding remote area. Fort McMurray Alberta is the main district in the Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Canada. A city till 1995, Fort McMurray Alberta was merged with smaller Hamlets like Fort Chipewyan, Fort Mackay to form municipality of Wood Buffalo, Improvement District No. 18.
Famous for the reaches of the Athabsasca Tar Sandsas well as large pipeline sectors of natural gas, Fort McMurray also boasts of forestry, tourism, and retail business. At one time a Ford auto dealer from Gimli chanced upon the place after reading about it on the plane This was early on its early oil industry discovery. There was just something about a boom town in the air he noted years later. At that point in time the area was virtually just a dot on the map of what wast to come . The population of Fort Mc Murray Alberta is less than 65, 000 and is a multicultural community. Half of its population is made up by native Albertans while about 20% are settlers from Newfoundland and Labrador. The city is one of the major hubs in oil production and houses two of the largest oil sand mining organizations Suncor Energy and Syncrude.
Yet these remote mining town not only offer a tremendous financial possibility but also are sportsmen s' paradises. Residents find they have been plunked down into a virtual wonderland with fishing , hunting, cross-country skiing and outdoor sports beyond their wildest dreams. What about climate. It is a matter of reasonable , even very nice summers but terribly cold - 40 degrees centigrade frigid type winters. Better have a working auto block heater for your vehicle - be it car or truck , if you are visiting the Fort come cold January or February weather conditions your truck or car will need an electric "block heater".
Yet its not inexpensive to live in this neck of the world. True the median income is the highest in Canada. Yet so are run of the mill labor costs , and as well the costs to truck up everything up the Northern roads and highways. Even to hire staff for McDonalds or the local Tim Hortons doughnut shops is on a scale out of the wage scales of these national chains. Housing is at more than a premium and if these employers don't pay the demanded wages - then staff just gets employment elsewhere and that business - be it a big box store or a restaurant has no staff to serve customers what so ever. What can be best said about Fort Mc Murray . Its cold in the winter , winter is long and frigid and the area is isolated as well. Its only a short 400 ( 250 miles) from the most major metropolis of Edmonton - the 250 miles drive south.The downside of all of this prosperity that the Athabasca regional area is experiencing and enjoying is that the basis of the whole local economy is not diversified.
Fort McMurray is Alberta's new frontier. Its "gold" boom town so to speak based on the new black gold - oil that is relatively easy to extract and is profitable to process at today's high crude oil prices. The economy and the growth of the whole industry and whole area depends to a great extent on continued high oil crude oil prices. It is only profitable to extract the crude oil from the tar sands at a given crude oil price. A lot of energy , and water which is in short supply as well , in processing the crude from the oil sand base. New extraction processes could come into development and into play , which require less fuel to extract the crude oil. Other processes , techniques and procedures are being looked at , and are in the research phases to require less precious water in the extraction process and the whole manufacturing process and sequence. Only time will tell the long term viability of this special economy as a whole.
Famous for the reaches of the Athabsasca Tar Sandsas well as large pipeline sectors of natural gas, Fort McMurray also boasts of forestry, tourism, and retail business. At one time a Ford auto dealer from Gimli chanced upon the place after reading about it on the plane This was early on its early oil industry discovery. There was just something about a boom town in the air he noted years later. At that point in time the area was virtually just a dot on the map of what wast to come . The population of Fort Mc Murray Alberta is less than 65, 000 and is a multicultural community. Half of its population is made up by native Albertans while about 20% are settlers from Newfoundland and Labrador. The city is one of the major hubs in oil production and houses two of the largest oil sand mining organizations Suncor Energy and Syncrude.
Yet these remote mining town not only offer a tremendous financial possibility but also are sportsmen s' paradises. Residents find they have been plunked down into a virtual wonderland with fishing , hunting, cross-country skiing and outdoor sports beyond their wildest dreams. What about climate. It is a matter of reasonable , even very nice summers but terribly cold - 40 degrees centigrade frigid type winters. Better have a working auto block heater for your vehicle - be it car or truck , if you are visiting the Fort come cold January or February weather conditions your truck or car will need an electric "block heater".
Yet its not inexpensive to live in this neck of the world. True the median income is the highest in Canada. Yet so are run of the mill labor costs , and as well the costs to truck up everything up the Northern roads and highways. Even to hire staff for McDonalds or the local Tim Hortons doughnut shops is on a scale out of the wage scales of these national chains. Housing is at more than a premium and if these employers don't pay the demanded wages - then staff just gets employment elsewhere and that business - be it a big box store or a restaurant has no staff to serve customers what so ever. What can be best said about Fort Mc Murray . Its cold in the winter , winter is long and frigid and the area is isolated as well. Its only a short 400 ( 250 miles) from the most major metropolis of Edmonton - the 250 miles drive south.The downside of all of this prosperity that the Athabasca regional area is experiencing and enjoying is that the basis of the whole local economy is not diversified.
Fort McMurray is Alberta's new frontier. Its "gold" boom town so to speak based on the new black gold - oil that is relatively easy to extract and is profitable to process at today's high crude oil prices. The economy and the growth of the whole industry and whole area depends to a great extent on continued high oil crude oil prices. It is only profitable to extract the crude oil from the tar sands at a given crude oil price. A lot of energy , and water which is in short supply as well , in processing the crude from the oil sand base. New extraction processes could come into development and into play , which require less fuel to extract the crude oil. Other processes , techniques and procedures are being looked at , and are in the research phases to require less precious water in the extraction process and the whole manufacturing process and sequence. Only time will tell the long term viability of this special economy as a whole.
About the Author:
Its not as if you were a Laura living in Grande Cache Northern Ab with just one restaurant - a single solitary Subway restaurant - for your enjoyment & entertainment- developed areas of the town site cover Abasand Heights, Beacon Hill, Gregoire, Lower Townsite, Thickwood Heights, Timberlea and Waterways.
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