David Yager has been studying and analysing provincial and national energy policy since the introduction of the National Energy Program in 1980. Areas affecting the upstream oil and gas industry include federal policy, provincial policy, taxation, royalties, interest rates, exchange rates, commodity prices, regulations, market access and, most recently, environmental activism and the anti-carbon movement.
As Chairman of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC), in 2009/2010 he was the driving force behind the creation of a major study on the size and impact of the oil service industry on the Canadian economy. This was updated in 2014.
He wrote a position paper for the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC, Service Rig Division) in 1990 that helped shape a new royalty rate for reactivation of suspended oil wells in the 1991 conventional oil and gas royalty review.
Through MNP, he authored a study for PSAC on well abandonment and site reclamation in 2016 that helped the Alberta and federal governments provide additional funding for the Orphan Well Association. Prior thereto he created a comprehensive employment study for PSAC using three regional examples for the number of workers engaged in creation of extended reach horizontal wells completed using multistage hydraulic fracturing.
David Yager is hired by boards, companies and trade associations to provide an overview of the of Canada’s oil and gas industry including the key drivers of production, investment and employment; past, present and future.
He has recently prepared analysis and commentary for position papers for PSAC, CAODC and CAGC (Canadian Association of Geophysical Contractors) which highlight the current state of the industry and the economic challenges facing the major oil service sectors.
He is regularly consulted by multiple media sources for commentary and analysis of the oil and gas issues of the day.