Guys this is my take
I have worked in the patch all my life all most 20 yrs. 15 yrs on a drilling rig i have seen the ups and downs in the patch. Do mostly because of prices for oil and gas things have been really slow since march becuse the price of nat gas sucks. The gov should have done this royalty bs 18-24 months ago when the price of gas was at record highs and there would be no bitching from oil companys. I have heard all the numbers of lose jobs here is what i can tell you
rigs working in ab 206 rigs = 4120 jobs 20 guys per rig
rigs not working in ab 504= 10080 jobs
this is just on the drilling rig what about all the service hands ie cementers,service rig hands,pipeliners,frac serices,truck drivers when they say 30000 people are out of work i thing they are pretty close. In my option I dont think this slow down is from the royaly bs its because the price of gas is low the royaly bs is not helping matters thats my take.