The growing sales volume is reflective of strong equipment demand, as well as loosening supply, as equipment rental companies and dealers return to healthy fleet replacement cycles

While Ritchie Bros is known more for construction, transportation and agricultural equipment, it has a long history of selling equipment for companies operating in and around the oil and gas sector.

"We have decades of experience helping companies in oil and gas buy and sell equipment for their businesses and we want to continue to grow in this sector," says Doug Olive, Senior Vice-President (Pricing).

"Traditionally Alberta and Texas have been our biggest markets and it’s no coincidence that these are also hotbeds for the oil and gas sector."

The company delves deep into what’s going on in the industry in its September report, titled ‘Market Trends Report: Used Equipment & Trucks’.

The report looks at the wide variety of oil and gas assets and support equipment sold over the past 20 months, including boom, vacuum, and bed trucks, as well as winch tractors, tanker trailers, and frac tanks, amongst a long list.

With regards to the retail market, Doug Rusch, Managing Director of Rouse Sales, says: "As we have seen in the auction space, retail is also dealing with supply issues. However, retail volumes in August were a bit stronger than recent months – only down 5 per cent year over year versus declines of 20-25 per cent in previous months."

At the same time, demand continues to be strong, resulting in retail values increasing for the 22nd straight month – up a further 2.3 per cent in August.

Since January 2021, Ritchie Bros has sold more than 47,000 oil and gas-specific equipment items from the US and Canada to buyers around the world.

GENERAL APPLICATION VERSUS HIGHLY SPECIALISED EQUIPMENT

Unlike other core industries where Ritchie Bros operates, assets sold in the oil and gas industry can have a wider range of specifications.

Some equipment categories have a very specific purpose, like bed trucks and frac tanks, while other items, like boom and vacuum trucks can be used in different applications, having a wider usage across industries.

The interesting trend seen is with respect to the volume of assets sold. While the number of units in 2022 has been down compared to prior year across other sectors, oil and gas unit sales have been steady.

Pricing is a different story. The volumes sold by quarter and the variance of the equipment specifications make it difficult to summarise pricing trends for oil and gas-specific equipment.

For example, the volume of assets sold in Q2 in Canada, in most cases, eclipses volumes in Q1 and Q3 combined.