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“We are pleased to be able to bring capital to support the Canadian oil and gas industry at a time where access to capital has been challenging,” ARC Financial president Brian Boulanger said in the release. 

Both debt and equity financings in the Canadian energy sector have been declining sharply in recent years. 

The issue of declining investment levels in the Canadian energy sector has been highlighted by the CEOs of major banks and investment managers in recent years as a major problem. 

Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos analyst and investors Darren Peers wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Nov. 2018 blasting the Canadian government’s energy policies, saying it was hurting investment in the sector.  His firm manages US$1.7 trillion and was shifting its spending to other jurisdictions. 

Investment in the energy industry has declined in each of the last five years. 

According to the ARC Energy Research Institute, the research affiliate of ARC Financial, spending on conventional oil and gas is down 29 per cent this year to an expected $19.5 billion in 2019, compared with $27.4 billion spent in 2018.  In five years since oil prices fell in 2014, spending on conventional oil and gas in Canada has fallen 58 per cent from a peak of $46.8 billion on 2014. 

The amount of money expected to be invested in the oilsands this year is $12 billion, which is down 4 per cent from $12.5 billion in 2018 and down 64 per cent from the peak of $33.9 billion in 2014. 

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan