After a difficult year of planning and getting all of their ducks in a row it was just announced by the Weyburn Oil Show Board that the 2021 Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Show will no longer be taking place this June.

The update comes after the latest increase in COVID-19 numbers in the province and more specifically southeast Saskatchewan.

"Due to the ongoing issues and risks of COVID-19, trying to hold an in-person event, in the dynamic and fast-changing situation we find ourselves in, we have chosen to delay," expressed Dan Cugnet, 2021 Chairman for the Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Show. "The comfort level of many of our exhibitors and stakeholders, and their feedback has changed in recent days. As such, we no longer have consensus as a board to proceed at this time."

He stated that they have decided to delay the Show by a year to June 1st and 2nd, 2022. This includes the golf tournament which will be delayed as well to June 2022.

"We strongly believe that this is in the best interest of everyone involved," Cugnet told. "The Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Show has always been a first-class event celebrating our sector and the amazing people that make it a success. Our Show is about atmosphere, crowds, fun, and lots of hands-on interaction with vendors, equipment, and camaraderie. If we were to proceed, it would be a much-diminished experience, lacking many of those things above that make it so great and memorable each year. You all deserve better than that"

Cugnet added that the board was thrilled to announce this year's award recipients and they look forward to honoring and recognizing them all in person at next year's event.

"We've got people traveling to the event too," said Cugnet. "So at the end of the day can we do this safely? Can we make sure that all of our exhibitors are getting value? And can we as a board do it at the level that we want to? So there was too much uncertainty in all three of those things and that's how we arrived at the decision that we did."

Cugnet said that the Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Show is the premier showcase for the entire energy sector in this province for the last 40 years, and the board plans to keep it that way for the next 40 years as well.

"I think it's just going to have everybody that much more fired up to put on a great show in June of 2022," Cugnet shared. "So we're excited about that and starting to look forward. And some of the conversations have already started around that too."

He told that he is cautiously optimistic that the oil sector will hold up in the province and said that the future looks like it could be quite bright for Saskatchewan.

"Everything seems to be in that upswing right now and in this part of the world where we are pretty commodity-based that should translate into more profitability for everybody in these spaces," told Cugnet.

The 2022 Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Show is set to take place in Weyburn on June 1st and 2nd.

Discover Weyburn file photo.