Canada’s Oil Capital Turns to Amazon and Airlines to Make Up for Price Plunge

Mark Craig didn’t worry much when oil plunged from $100 a barrel to less than $50 in late 2014. Having worked in the Canadian oil industry since high school, the Calgary resident had seen booms and busts before. His confidence seemed justified when, just months after taking a buyout at British oil giant BP Plc, he was hired to manage the IT department at Calgary-based Penn West Petroleum in April 2015. Then, four months later, Penn West cut a quarter of its staff, including Craig, in the midst of an accounting scandal. Oil had just begun to take another leg down, ultimately bottoming below $30 a barrel, and no one in the city that’s the epicenter of Canada’s oil and gas industry was hiring. Two years later, no one is hiring still. “After Penn West, I realized there were basically no jobs out there,” says Craig, 56. “It was a very harsh reality that slapped me in the face.”

Most oil producers are operating under the assumption that the days of $100 crude are gone for good, and they’re planning to stay as lean as possible. As that realization sinks in, Craig—and Calgary—are retooling.