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“British Columbia has the potential to be the bright light within the energy patch and even within Western Canadian economic development,” said Andrew Bradford, an analyst at Raymond James Ltd. in Calgary.

The Conference Board of Canada forecasts the economy in British Columbia will grow 3.1 percent this year, the fastest among the country’s 10 provinces, according to a May 28 report. It expects Alberta to contract by 0.7 percent.

Work Camps

Work in British Columbia is already helping Alberta drillers such as Western Energy Services Corp. and frackers including Calfrac Well Services Ltd. partially offset a slowdown across the region after oil prices collapsed by half last year, according to Bradford.

The Canadian unit of Petroliam Nasional Bhd., which is proposing a C$36 billion LNG project in British Columbia, is one of the most active producers, with some 20 rigs working at one time in recent months to drill for gas and at least two fracturing crews.

While drilling in British Columbia is forecast to fall 20 percent in 2015, that’s less than the 54 percent plunge expected in Alberta as LNG activity takes up some of the slack, according to the Petroleum Services Association of Canada.

Some are skeptical that the crude price downturn will continue to ripple through Alberta’s energy economy. The industry has some “resiliency” after a difficult second quarter, Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Monday in an interview at Bloomberg’s head office in New York.