In an auction room a few dozen potential bidders scan a picture of a used oil drilling rig projected on the wall while an auctioneer raises his voice to drum up enthusiasm.
“If you came to this sale not looking for a rig you should be looking at it now,” the auctioneer bellows into his microphone. Initial asking price on the rig – complete with water, mud and shale tanks – was C$150,000 ($107,650) and it eventually sold for C$52,500, a fraction of a cost of a new rig that can fetch between $7 million and $15 million.
Business is brisk at this 180-acre (0.73 square km) Edmonton site and other North American locations of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers – a clear sign that the oil industry has little hope that crude prices will recover any time soon.
