How much wood could a woodchuck chuck? Okay, that’s trite, but assuming a woodchuck can chuck wood, the classic children’s alliteration leads economists to think about productivity, poetically. Now I don’t know much about forestry or zoology, or even poetry for that matter. But in the energy business the lyrics might go something like, “How much oil could an oil rig rig?” I think we can agree my poetry doesn’t work. But bear with me, because I’m exploring how fast Canada’s oil business is innovating, especially relative to its US peers. Really, my question is, “How much new oil production can come from one drilling rig, working over the span of one month?” And related to that, “How is the ability to get oil out of the ground improving over time, here in Canada versus the US?” The measurement is called rig productivity. Superior rig productivity translates into being […]