Snapshot of Sylvan Lake
The Town of Sylvan Lake is situated on the southeast edge of Sylvan Lake, a 15-kilometre-long freshwater lake in Red Deer County. Sylvan Lake is more than just a picturesque destination; it’s a thriving community that combines lakeside charm with vibrant economic opportunities.
Location
The town of Sylvan Lake is centrally located within the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor, just 18 km west of Red Deer, the third largest city in the province, with access to all major highways, rail lines and airports, connecting it with national and international markets. The town has easy access to an immediate trading area of over 313,000 people and because of its close proximity to the QEII highway, is positioned to access a market of over 2.7 million.
About the Sector
The oil and gas supply and service sector refers to businesses that provide specialized services to oil and gas producers, rather than extracting resources themselves. These businesses typically work on a contract or fee basis and support different stages of the resource development process.
Work can include preparing well sites and assisting with drilling, to maintaining, servicing, and eventually decommissioning wells. The sector plays a crucial role in keeping production operations efficient, safe, and compliant with industry standards, and growing Alberta’s oil and gas sector through the 21st century.
Regional Approach
—
Central Alberta is home to a diverse and growing economy with a highly skilled workforce across a range of industries. With expertise in oil and gas, agriculture, manufacturing, and healthcare, the region’s talent pool brings technical proficiency, adaptability, and a strong work ethic. The region offers a strong foundation for investors focused on stability, innovation, and success. This robust economic landscape draws businesses, supports job creation, and fosters steady population growth.
Local Competitive Advantage
—
Sylvan Lake is more than just a picturesque destination; it’s a thriving community that combines lakeside charm with vibrant economic opportunities. Located in the heart of Alberta, Sylvan Lake provides businesses the opportunity to locate within a tight-knit rural community, with access to urban centres and services. The municipality consistently ranks highly in terms of business friendliness, with local entrepreneurs noting a business-first mentality and ease of connection with municipal staff. Local businesses also rank available labour and their current labour force highly, suggesting the town is home to a highly skilled workforce. Specific to the oil and gas support and services sector, Sylvan Lake already hosts a well-established energy-services cluster, making it a strong base for support-services firms. Being host to already successful firms in the community and surrounding area allows the town to have the infrastructure, labour pool, and necessary supply-chain relationships to support new businesses.
Demographic Advantage
—
The Town of Sylvan Lake is situated on the southeast edge of Sylvan Lake, a 15-kilometre-long freshwater lake in Red Deer County. Sylvan Lake’s economy is thriving, having experienced remarkable growth since the early 2000s, with growth rates of 21.1% (from 2006 to 2011), 19.9% (2011-2016) and 7.9% (2016-2021) over the previous three Census periods. More recently, the town has had a growth rate of 13.4% over the past five years, one of the highest rates in Alberta. This rapid growth supports a forward-looking economy, with a diverse population seeking employment across a host of sectors. The quality of life in Sylvan Lake is unmatched along the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor. Whether you’re looking to invest, grow your business, or enjoy lakeside living, Sylvan Lake is ready to welcome you.
Business Supports
Bringing your business to our community offers a unique opportunity to tap into a vibrant ecosystem of support, collaboration, and innovation.
Alberta Innovate Clean Technology Program supports technologies and mechanisms for energy decarbonization that facilitate the achievement of net-zero goals set by industry participants. Clean technology innovation drives environmental sustainability, economic growth and jobs, as well as energy affordability and reliability. Focus Areas include renewable and alternative energy, energy storage and minerals, and carbon capture, utilization and storage.
The Catalyst Incubator is a unique, cohort-based program that help fosters new ideas, make critical connections, and assists start-up business. The Incubator focuses on supporting start-ups in manufacturing, agriculture, technology, energy innovation, and more. The Catalyst Incubator is a place to begin the first stages of business entrepreneurship and validate new ideas to grow resiliency and prosperity for the future of our Alberta economy.
The National Research Council of Canada’s Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP) provides a range of technical and business-oriented advisory services, as well as necessary financial support, to qualified innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Canada. NRC-IRAP engages in cost-shared research and development projects with its clients. Firms helped by NRC-IRAP are better equipped to perform basic R&D, commercialize new products and processes, and access new markets.
Incentives & Programs
Sylvan Lake is committed to fostering a business-friendly climate through a range of programs and partnerships designed to support businesses, developers, and investors.
Support for this sector can be felt across the province. For example, the Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan of the Province of Alberta provides a policy backbone for continued investment, innovation and growth in the energy sector, including direction on land-conservation, emissions-management and modernization of operations.
The confluence of local, regional and provincial government support for this sector provides significant opportunity to potential investors. This supportive government policy environment means that businesses in the oil and gas support-services arena in Sylvan Lake are tapping into a mature supply chain, nearby clients, infrastructure and government commitment to energy development.
The Non-Residential Tax Incentive Program is aimed at stimulating economic growth and encouraging business development. Under this program, eligible properties may receive a 5-year municipal tax exemption on the increased assessed value resulting from new construction or significant expansion. During this period, a 75% reduction will be applied to the municipal portion of the tax bill. For more information, please email AMercer@sylvanlake.ca.
The Alberta Petrochemicals Incentive Program (APIP) is a key part of the Natural Gas Vision and Strategy to turn the province into a top global producer of petrochemicals. It provides grants to companies to attract investment in new or expanded market-driven petrochemical facilities. The APIP will enhance certainty and flexibility for investors and cut red tape to attract investment into Alberta’s petrochemicals sector.
Industry Data
Sylvan Lake Business Counts
| 1-9 Employees | 10-49 | 50+ | Sole Proprietor | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2013 | 17 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 41 |
| Dec 2024 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 29 | 42 |
Sylvan Lake Sales and Exports*
Wages
Job Counts
1 Sylvan Lake, Red Deer, Red Deer County, Lacombe, Lacombe County.
2 A location quotient (LQ) measures how concentrated an industry or activity is in a region compared to a larger reference area (like a province or country). An LQ above 1.0 means the industry is more concentrated locally (a local strength or specialization), while below 1.0 means it’s less concentrated.
Sector Landscape
Sylvan Lake offers distinct advantages for companies in the oil and gas sector thanks to its strategic location, skilled workforce, and strong infrastructure geared toward energy services. Located between Red Deer and key oil-producing regions in central and northern Alberta, the town provides direct access to major transportation routes like Highway 11 and Highway 20. This multimodal connectivity across Alberta and through north America makes it a practical base for mobilizing equipment, personnel, and services across Alberta’s energy corridor.
What sets Sylvan Lake apart is the balance between industrial strength and livability. It attracts experienced tradespeople and professionals by offering not only employment opportunities but also a high standard of living with recreational amenities, healthcare, and education.
The local economy includes a well-established network of oilfield service providers, from well testing and safety operations to equipment rentals and environmental monitoring. This concentration of complementary services allows businesses to operate more efficiently and collaborate with nearby partners to support oilfield activity throughout the region.
Future Outlook
Canada’s natural-resource extraction industry has experienced marked volatility over the past decade, with varying prices, government engagement and support, and international investment levels. However, persistently low commodity prices and the large capital commitments required for upstream extraction have weighed on employment and business prospects in the near term. At the same time, demand for renewable-power technologies (such as geothermal, wind and solar) has grown steadily, and these subsectors of energy production are playing an increasingly important role in Alberta’s economic diversification.
Overall, the outlook for natural resource extraction, and therein the oil & gas services and support-services sector is promising. Of note, the Government of Alberta has deliberately backed the development of downstream, value-added and support-service clusters, recognising that the province’s legacy of hydrocarbon extraction has spawned a robust ecosystem of specialist firms, infrastructure and trained labour. For example, research shows that Alberta’s hydrocarbon “cluster” encompasses over 3,500 support-activity firms — including environmental services, engineering procurement & construction, and drilling-/well-services companies. This broad provincial support will funnel to Sylvan Lake businesses and provide opportunities for expansive growth.
In line with this, Alberta’s Ministry of Energy & Minerals states that one of its core responsibilities is to “encourage additional investment that creates jobs and economic prosperity” in the province’s energy and mineral system Likewise, the Petrochemicals Incentive Program (under Alberta’s broader energy diversification strategy) is designed to attract significant capital investment and generate economic spin-offs across the province, including in oil and gas support-service businesses.
These targeted supports strengthen the argument that, while upstream extraction will continue to face cyclical and structural challenges, the services-and-support side of the sector is positioned for relative resilience and growth. In sum, therefore, while the upstream oil & gas extraction industry remains subject to price swings, high capital needs, and long-term transition pressures toward lower-carbon systems, the broader support-services cluster in Alberta and across Canada is well placed for the future. This positive outlook is largely due to strong provincial backing, pre-existing structural assets and investments, and emerging workstreams (such as retrofits, decarbonisation, decommissioning and value-added processing) that Sylvan Lake businesses can build off.
Living in Sylvan Lake
In the heart of Central Alberta, Sylvan Lake glows with crisp skies, golden leaves, and plenty to explore. Stroll the trails, browse local shops, or cozy up on a patio, experience the small town charm, lakeside leisure and big-time adventures. The NexSource Centre provides state-of-the-art facilities, including NHL-sized arenas, an aquatic center, and spaces for community events. The town features excellent healthcare services, strong public and Catholic schools, and a vibrant arts and culture scene. Residents and visitors enjoy summer activities like boating and paddleboarding, while winter brings ice fishing and hockey. The revitalized waterfront and affordable housing make Sylvan Lake a premier destination for living and recreation.
Local Spotlight
Based in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, Spartek Systems is a recognized leader in downhole data acquisition technology, serving clients across the globe. Specializing in advanced instrumentation for pressure, temperature, and production logging, Spartek designs and manufactures high-performance tools that are trusted by oil and gas operators in North America, the Middle East, Asia, and beyond.
What sets Spartek apart is its commitment to innovation, precision engineering, and reliable performance in even the most challenging well environments. With a strong research and development focus and in-house manufacturing capabilities, Spartek continues to push the boundaries of data-driven well optimization. Their global reach and local presence make them a key player in Sylvan Lake’s growing ecosystem of oil and gas support services.
