Stampede chuckwagon auction bids tick up despite oil prices, Alberta election call

Chuckwagon drivers and sponsors werehoping for the bestas clouds of political and energy industry uncertainty gathered abovethe Calgary Stampede canvas auction Thursday night.

The success of the annual event is considered a bellwether for the Calgary-based oil and gas industry, as many of the sponsors who pay to have their company names on the 36 rigs competing in the 10-day July tribute to cowboy culture are energy industry players.

In the end, the results got a bit of boost this year over 2018, with bids totalling $3,285,000. Troy Dorchester, the 29th driver in the auction lineup, received the top bid of the night in a thrilling bidding war. Graham Construction came out the winner at $150,000.

"We have a great mix of new and returning advertisers who are now preparing to celebrate with us during our annual event in July,"saidPaul Kavanagh, chair of the Calgary Stampede Chuckwagon committee, in a release.

About 80 per cent of the canvas auction proceeds go to the drivers and the rest is used for prize money, safety and other chuckwagon initiatives.

Champion driver Kurt Bensmiller, who won the chuckwagon derby for the fourth time in five years in 2018, says the calling of an Alberta election on Tuesday createdmore uncertainty for an economy battered by recent commodity price volatility and slowing oilfield activity.

• Alberta Votes 2019: CBC News brings you all the news, analyses and columns you need for the election

Alberta'sNDPintroduced controversial oil production curtailments in January and is investing in crude-by-rail capacity to fill a shortfall in export pipeline room.

Bids up slightly from last year

Bensmillertook the prize for the highest tarp price of $130,000 last year as a total of $3.2 million was bid at the auction.

"I'm hoping with the economy the way it is, if we stay close to what it was last year or even the average comes up a bit as a whole, the driver group will be pretty excited about that," he said before the auction took place.

The top money bid last year came from Versatile Energy Services, Ltd., a private oilfield services company based in the resort town of Sylvan Lake in central Alberta.

Versatile president Kent Stormoen plannedto be at Thursday'seventbut declined to make earlypredictions for results given the province's current uncertain times.

"The industry still isn't rolling like we expect it to but (the sponsorship) did help with the exposure of our company," he said.

"I think there's a lot of uncertainty with the provincial election coming now and the new federal budget that's come out."

Stampede spokeswoman Kristina Barnes said Wednesday the number of bidders whopre-registered for the auction was around130, a bit behind last year's pace.

The record year for overall tarp auction results came in 2012, when bidders pledged just over $4 million including the highest bid of $300,000 by oilfield services firm Tervita Corp. At the time, oil prices were hovering above US$100 per barrel versus recent prices of around US$60 per barrel.