Value of Canada's natural resources sees steep decline

The value of Canada's natural resources saw a steep decline in 2015, largely due to lower crude bitumen prices, according to Statistics Canada.

Statistics show the value of natural resource assets in Canada was $287 billion in 2015, down 73 per cent from 2014.

Oil prices saw a steep decline in 2015, with the value of coal, crude bitumen, crude oil and natural gas at $56 billion, a 93 per cent decrease from 2014.

Both drops followed large increases the year before, with oil and gas reserves seeing a 49 per cent increase from 2013 to 2014. Total natural resources, including timber and minerals, saw a 28 per cent increase in that time period.

The stats on the sharp decrease for 2015 come out on the heels of a federal government announcement that it had approved the Trans Mountain and Line 3 pipelines, which are expected to pump nearly one million more barrels of oil out of Alberta's oilsands per day.

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While low oil prices due to an oversaturated market led to huge losses for the industry, some experts are optimistic the price of oil will rise in 2017.

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Stats Canada also said mineral assets saw a decline, dropping 24 per cent in 2014 and 38 per cent in 2015, to a total value of $74 billion.

Timber resources saw a small decline as well, dropping one per cent in 2015 following a nine per cent increase in 2014.

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