The oil sands used to be the domain of capital-rich giants like BP, Shell and Cenovus. No longer >
Richard F. Haskayne – Chairman, TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.
There was a time in Alberta”s oil and gas history when people didn”t think an accountant should be running an oil company. They probably didn”t know Dick Haskayne, O.C., FCA.
>
Pierre Alvarez – President, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers
When asked how his high school classmates would remember him, Pierre Alvarez said “outgoing and high energy.” Good thing, because as president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Alvarez has to be outgoing to deliver industry’s message at a time when energy has never been higher on the North American agenda.
>
Patrick D. Daniel – President and CEO, Enbridge Inc.
Patrick Daniel can tell you some long stories about petroleum pipelines : about 15,000 kilometres long, and growing. Daniel took over January 1 as president and CEO of Enbridge Inc., Canada’s oil and gas delivery giant, and if early returns are any indication, the company won’t be slowing down.
>
Jim Dinning – Chair, Calgary Regional Health Authority, Executive Vice-President Sustainable Development and External Relations, TransAlta Inc.
Jim Dinning is two elections removed from his 11 years as an MLA and cabinet minister, but he’s still playing his part in satisfying public demands.
>
James S. Kinnear – President, Pengrowth Management Ltd.
Thirteen years ago in the heart of Canada’s oil and gas capital, James Kinnear found a way to open the industry’s doors to the smaller investor.
>
As lights dimmed in California and drivers felt the pinch at the gas pump, freshly inaugurated U.S. President George W. Bush began to muse aloud about the creation of a continental energy policy. >
In the oil and gas industry, Alberta's bread-and-butter economic driver, good communication is vitally important to allow industry to move forward >
Recognizes a company that demonstrates sustainable fiscal success, maintains or builds market share and performs well on the public markets (if applicable).
>
Recognizes a company that has built a program of initiatives to ensure its products, services or processes are leading edge in quality.
>
In 1976, 25-year-old Steven Kakfwi stood in front of a nationally appointed judge and said no to a billion-dollar pipeline proposal. Aboriginal people of the Northwest Territories wanted land claims settled before any mega-projects were started on their lands, he said. Kakfwis concerns, along with those of hundreds of other rarely heard northern people, were broadcast to the country.
By Judy Aldous
That was the Berger Inquiry; a two-year process that examined the possibility of building a natural gas pipeline to access the up to 60-trillion cubic feet of reserves along the remote and rugged Mackenzie Valley. Judge Thomas Berger agreed with Kakfwi and in 1977, he recommended a 10-year moratorium on the pipeline plan.
Times have changed for Kakfwi and for the north. The former outspoken native leader is now premier of the N.W.T. And now he wants the pipeline in his backyard, carrying northern natural gas, employing his people
“Twenty-five years ago, I was on the front line of people who spoke out against the Arctic pipeline. We took on the Canadian government, we took on industry we went to the U.S. and said sorry but not now. For 25 years, weve worked hard to get our people positioned so that we can benefit from economic development. Now were ready.”
This is the new economic attitude thats spread across the north: its open for business. But its business their way; that means partnerships with aboriginal companies, strict environmental controls and frequently, promises of compensation, employment and training from companies that want to dig up the resources on northern land. This new attitude can mean new wealth for northern people and new headaches for mining and oil and gas companies.
Enter Alaska gas to complicate matters for Kakfwi and this newfound enthusiasm for a natural gas pipeline. American consumers, facing depleting reserves and an almost 70% increase in gas prices over the past year, are anxious to access the huge reserves in Alaskas Prudhoe Bay.
Alaska and Yukon politicians have teamed up to promote a pipeline project that would transport this gas to market, bypassing the N.W.T. altogether. Kakfwi is fighting tenaciously to have the pipeline pass through his territory.
The pipeline debate has pitted the N.W.T. and Yukon governments against each other in a high-profile international squabble over the billions of dollars in construction, employment, and royalties that a pipeline would bring.
What are at stake are the untapped pools of northern natural gas: in Prudhoe Bay, proven reserves total about 35-trillion cubic feet (TCF), with a potential as high as 100 TCF. Some gas is already being produced and then reinjected into the ground because theres no easy way to get it to market.
In the Mackenzie Delta, N.W.T., reserves are estimated as high as 60 TCF.
Two main routes are being considered to bring this gas to market.
The first, and most politically popular, is the Alaska Highway route. It would see a pipeline run from northern Alaska, through the Yukon and into northern B.C., at an estimated cost of $7.5 billion US to build.
Yukon Premier Pat Duncan has latched onto this option as a way to revitalize her territorys struggling economy. With Alaskan senators, the governor, and most recently the White House on board, shes confident shell succeed.
“It made sense 20 years ago. It makes sense today,” says Duncan, referring to a proposal made during the 1980s for a similar pipeline. Because of that early work, many of the approvals for a pipeline along that route are still in place, as is some of the infrastructure.
“We wouldnt be starting all over,” says Duncan.
Despite the poor odds, Kakfwi wont give up.
“Just because the president of the U.S. and Alaska congressmen and governor are all on one side, doesnt deter the fact that Im right. The economics are on my side. Interests of the consumers are on my side.”
Kakfwi is lobbying for the over-the-top proposal. It would see an undersea chunk of pipeline travel from Alaska to the Mackenzie Valley, then south to B.C., picking up N.W.T. gas along the way.
Follow Alberta Venture On: