Austrade media release

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Austrade is raising the profile of Australia’s energy-related businesses and enhancing the export opportunities in Canada’s booming Alberta province by participating at the world's largest oil and gas event, Global Petroleum Show (GPS) 2008 in Calgary starting today.

Austrade’s Toronto-based Senior Trade Commissioner and Consul General, Stefan Trofimovs, said that over the next three days, five Australian businesses would be showcasing their products at Austrade’s Australia Pavilion in Calgary at GPS 2008.

“A growing number of Australian companies in Canada are targeting the oil and gas sector. Their activities cover engineering design, engineering procurement and construction (EPC), equipment, software, training and other technology services,” Mr Trofimovs said.

“Canada is the world’s third-largest producer of natural gas. The Province of Alberta is undergoing an economic boom, leading the Canadian market in GDP growth with record low unemployment levels. The main reasons for growth of this economic powerhouse are the oil sands and the natural gas reserves,” he said.

“Australia produces roughly 1 per cent each of global oil and gas; 8 per cent of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) and in 2006-07 the oil and gas sector contributed 3.8 per cent to Australia’s total GDP.

“This is why it is so important that we have representation at the world’s largest oil and gas event and why we have come to Calgary for the second year running,” Mr Trofimovs said.

Alberta also leads North America in crude oil production. In the last five years alone, the industry has allocated $24.7 billion towards oil sands development.

Austrade’s District Manager for Alberta, Alireza Rafiee, said the participating delegation at Austrade’s Australia Pavilion included: Aconex; CoreTrack; Extreme Machining Australia; Skelton Tomkinson and Xtralis.

“More than 60,000 registered visitors from 90 countries are expected to attend GPS 2008, where 2,000 companies will occupy more than 600,000 square feet of events and exhibits,” Mr Rafiee said.

“This makes GPS 2008 the most significant petroleum industry event and the largest display of onshore and offshore equipment anywhere in the world,” he said.

“Mission delegates will benefit from a structured program of briefing and preparation sessions prior to travel, group sessions in-market with experts and targeted appointments with key influencers, potential customers and partners.

“Oil Sands mining projects, located about 750km north of Calgary in Alberta contain 175 billion barrels of recoverable oil – behind only Saudi Arabia with its 259 billion barrels,” Mr Rafiee said.

“Canada is also a natural market for Australia, sharing similarities in culture, business, government structure and policies as well as offering access to an incrementally larger consumer base of over 32 million,” he said.

The Global Petroleum Show (GPS), the world’s largest oil and gas event, is being held in Calgary from 10-12 June.

Austrade has a network devoted to the Canadian market, providing extensive support for Australian exporters with specialist industry teams located across its major cities, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal and Calgary, and a dedicated network of Canadian Export Advisers around Australia.



ENDS

Media contact

Sarkis Khoury
Senior Media Adviser
Tel: +61 2 930 2118
Mob: +61 414 401 072
Email: sarkis.khoury@austrade.gov.au

For further news and information from the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade) visit www.austrade.gov.au/mediacentre.