Canada will be the hardest hit of any significant oil and gas region in the world for declining investment. Some forecasters say that this year investment in Canada is down as much as 36%, in the United States it's down 30%, and internationally it's down about 7%. The global average is down about 17% in terms of CAPEX in the oil and gas industry around the world.
Why is Canada so hard hit, with an investment decline of around 36% by our measure? We have a greater component of smaller oil and gas producers in Canada. Equity markets here have been largely closed for a year and a half to two years for smaller oil and gas companies trying to raise capital. Bank financing is tight, and cashflow is a long way down because the commodity price is down. By international measures, Canada is probably going to be among the hardest hit places in the world, measured by declining oil and gas investment in 2009.