Oil prices have spiked to over $100 a barrel in recent weeks but that was not what people were talking about at an oil and gas industry luncheon on Friday.
At the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors luncheon most of the talk was about the lack of people to do the work.
The shortage of labourers is making it tough for the drillers, but its good news for people hoping to work in the oil and gas industry.
"I hear a lot of oil and gas companies picking their wheels up and I hear they are hiring. I've hear they need up to 20,000 workers in the next 5 to 10 years. All my contacts in the business have been busy," said Brett Budd, SAIT Polytechnic student.
"In some cases we have been running rigs for 2 weeks and shutting them down for a week to give the crew a rest because we don't have enough crews," said Don Herring, CAODC President.
Oil well drilling contractors heard the spike in the price is overshadowing what was a slow and steady increase and that is putting more oil drilling rigs into the field.
Currently about 70 percent of the rigs in Alberta are working and the CAODC expects that number to rise as the year goes on.
