Oilsands projects couldn't possibly pick up the slack simply because of the large numbers of wells usually involved with shallow gas drilling. The upstream oil and gas industry has been slow for about a year now... I find it mildly amusing that this is only becoming news recently.
My company went through a couple rounds of layoffs last spring. They say they're done and should be able to sustain themselves as long as the industry stays static, which is what they predict. But in my position you can already see that the big guys have plans for a lot of drilling projects in the next three years. By this time next year, I believe things will be on the upswing again, barring other factors.
Should the eastern seaboard experience a long cold winter, shallow gas projects could become prevailent again as well.
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