Trucking CEO Predicts an Alternative to the Combustion Engine is Coming in His Lifetime
Murray Mullen, CEO, Mullen Group
At Truck World 2016, Canada’s national truck show that opened in Toronto today, Canada’s Mullen Group (ticker: MTL; Mullen-Group.com) CEO Murray K. Mullen gave an interesting perspective during a breakfast talk.
Due to the oil downturn, in Canada, “100,000 jobs, $60 billion in earnings, and $33 billion in capital investments have evaporated, much of it in Alberta,” Today’s Trucking reported from the conference which opened today. It pointed out that the Mullen Group itself has laid off more than 1,400 people. Mullen’s company provides the oil and gas industry in Canada and the U.S. with trucking and logistics, and oilfield services. According to the company’s website, Mullen Group has 6,000 employees.
“The job losses are the ‘biggest human tragedy’ [Mullen said], noting how these people are sometimes forgotten by those who think a few rich ‘oil guys’ are paying the price,” the magazine reported.
Mullen puts part of the blame for lower oil prices on horizontal multistage fracturing that allowed access to previously unavailable oil deposits, adding to supply. “The negative that’s happening in Alberta is actually a positive for the consumer,” he said, “and a high oil price would have fed the military buildup in Saudi Arabia.”
Mullen advocates for pipelines to take Canadian oil to new markets and he predicted that a realistic alternative to the combustion engine will be developed in his lifetime.
