[en] New price forecasts and corporate plans for Canadian oil and gas companies were presented. Since the fall of 1997 Canadian oil prices have been on a continuous and long downward slide to as low as US$11-12 for the 1998-99 winter. However, by the end of February 1999, oil prices projections have averaged $13. As the market grows stronger, it is believed that oil prices will be strong enough for the rest of 1999 to pull the annual average up at least to US$16, then stay firm at $18 or more in year 2000. It is also believed that natural gas prices will be the best since the onset in 1985 of energy free trade. Even Canadian heavy oil, the most depressed sector in 1997-98, will bounce back as Mexico and Venezuela shut theirs in while U.S. refineries add processing capacity. In western Canada there will be 9,200 wells in 1999 and 14,400 in 2000. Industry spending might almost double to $18.6 billion. It is also predicted that the Toronto Stock Exchange's oil and gas index will top 8,000 for the first time. 1 fig

[en] The highly innovative environment in the field service sector of the oil and natural gas industry and the intense competition generated by it are discussed. Despite the fact that Canada produces only 3.5 per cent of the world's oil and 7.0 per cent of its natural gas, Canada is a world leader in the development of field service systems and equipment. On a return on investment basis the field service sector outperformed the exploration and production sector, and while many of them are small compared to the giants like Haliburton and Schlumberger, small field service companies frequently outperform the giants, if only because below 100 million dollars in revenues, investors expect a 25 to 30 per cent return on equity. Constant cost cutting and an eye on the bottom line, combined with products and services of high quality, and the intense rivalry and competition keeps the industry constantly on its toes to do more with less, to come up with innovative business practices and to stay on the cutting edge of new technology. Progress by several of the field service companies, large and small, are reviewed by way of illustration

[en] The revival of interest in Arctic natural gas and the developing competition to extend the pipeline grid to Alaska and the Yukon and the Northwest territories are the subject of this report. Substantial agreement between competing interest groups is reported with respect to the need for Arctic gas and the willingness of the market to pay for bringing it south to consumers. The discussion centers on the construction of the Alliance Pipeline Project that will reportedly bring two billion cubic feet per day of excess capacity to transport natural gas from northeastern British Columbia to Chicago, and the 2,400 km long Foothills Pipelines System that carries about one-third of Canadian gas exports to middle-western states and California. Plans are to extend the line to 5,240 km by laying pipe in a giant Y pattern between Prudhoe Bay and the Mackenzie delta in the north, and the start of the Foothills System at Caroline in central Alberta. The estimated cost of the line is about $US 6 billion, using a 36-inch diameter line at increased pressures in place of the 56-inch diameter pipe used in the 1970s. Construction plans are similar for the rest of the big Y, the Dempster Lateral beside the Dempster Highway between Whitehorse and Inuvik. A competing project, the Northern Gas Pipeline Project is also discussed. This line would run east of Prudhoe Bay under the Beaufort Sea to the Mackenzie Delta; then south along the Mackenzie Valley to Alberta. Cost of this line is also estimated at $US 6 billion, however, it would have a capacity of four billion cubic feet per day, including 2.5 billion cubic feet from Alaska and 1.5 billion cubic feet from Canada. Strong revival of interest is also reported from the supply side, with BP Amoco, ARCO, Chevron Canada Resources, Ranger 0il Ltd., Paramount Resources, Berkley Petroleum Corporation, Canadian Forest Oil, Alberta Energy Company, Petro-Canada, Anderson Resources, and Poco Petroleum Ltd., all showing interest to mount new drilling projects along these northern pipeline routes

[en] The competition for the Number One position among Western Canada's pipeline transport companies is intensifying between ATCO Midstream Inc., AltaGas Services Inc., and Dynergy Canada Inc., now that its first leader, the TransCanada Pipelines family is withdrawing from the midstream sector. The midstream is considered to be very risky, but each of the three companies declare themselves ready for aggressive growth. Part of the problem appears to be the provincial government policy of fiscal support for intervenors at regulatory hearings that can require the investment of several months in regulatory hearings, followed by waiting for a several more months for a ruling on a pipeline extension. One of the companies involved in a lengthy hearing on its pipeline plan in the Chestermere Lake area on Calgary's eastern fringe likened the process to 'going before a firing squad where you have to buy the bullets'. The advice to companies facing regulatory hearings is to be well prepared, thorough in consulting communities, and be willing to changing plans to heal sore points, and to remove objections before the first hearing. Although more costly, if the alternative is rigid resistance by landowners, the added cost is worth it, since it will likely avoid lengthy EUB hearings and long delays in mounting projects

[en] Some evidence of the easing of tensions between the oil and gas industry and native host communities in northeastern British Columbia have been reported. While native communities continue to expect a high standard of corporate citizenship in terms of environmental concerns and reclamation of land to its natural state after industry activity ceases, they show greater willingness to allow exploration and drilling on native lands. In another demonstration of this 'live and let live' philosophy labour authorities and the Petroleum Services Association of Canada and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers jointly persuaded the B.C. Legislature to reserve the decision on ending the variance from the letter of overtime provisions in the B.C. Labour Code that would have made oilfield work prohibitively expensive. In yet another action, industry and local governments joined forces to demand a share of the industrial property taxes for local governments for infrastructure development, instead of all of it going to the provincial government. Progress is slow, but there is evidence of good will, or at least a recognition of interdependence and mutual concerns on both sides

[en] Performance of the top 100 petroleum and natural gas companies operating in Canada in 1999 is documented, mostly in tabular form. The survey shows that collectively, the companies have increased production as well as reserves during the year. The tables (alphabetical by company name) that comprise the major part of this report record barrels of oil equivalent production and reserves, based on comparison of 1999 results with those recorded in 1998. The tables include production and proven reserves data for oil, natural gas, and liquids. Data is also provided about production of sulphur, land holdings and employment. There are also separate tables for natural gas and liquids producers, the top 25 natural gas and liquids reserves, and the top 26 holders of international assets

[en] The role that government-industry cooperation has played in the development of the Canadian petroleum industry is recounted by way of providing background to delegates to the World Petroleum Congress taking place in June 2000 in Calgary, Alberta. Among individuals whose contributions have been vital to the development of the industry are the late Premier Manning of Alberta, and J. Howard Pew, President of Sun Corporation, Todd Montgomery, Michael Supple, Chris Hopkins, the triumvirate leaders of the privately owned SynEnCo Inc., the latest entry into the oilsands lineup, Dave Beckwerment and Jeff Arsenych, the visionaries behind Ravenwood Resources Inc., Robert McLeay, founder of Mera Petroleum Inc., and Robert Mansell, the economist who keeps tab on the industry from his home base at the University of Calgary. According to Mansell, four-fifths of Canadian oil and gas production is located in Alberta, which constitutes some 45 per cent of the country's economy. From manufacturing to communications and information technology, other sectors draw heavily on the oil and gas community for customers and talent. Despite occasional disparaging remarks applied to the industry as being 'a mature and sunset industry' it survives through its visionaries and adventurers who flourish in a cross-section of the community built by earlier pioneers, in various niches ranging from economical drilling for modest conventional reserves to international hunts for proverbial elephant-sized discoveries in world trouble spots. The staying power of the industry through upheavals of global proportions underlines the talent and policies that manage the Canadian petroleum industry, and provide an indication of the scale of the country's natural resources

[en] The Canadian formula for international success in oil, natural gas and associated services and equipment is described as a blend of stamina in extreme natural environments, an open mind, a sharp eye for technical opportunity, technical creativity, a sharp eye for fitting into foreign communities, and willingness to chart an independent course through global political conflict. By way of background, little known early western ventures into the then-touchiest international arena, the Soviet Union, are described. >From these early ventures in the 1970s resulted some pioneering ideas which, with Canadian refinements, became the cornerstones of today's oilfield technology: mud motors to drive bits with speed and precision, and SAGD or steam-assisted gravity drainage to tap the oil sands. It is well to remember that the industrial intelligence that gave us these fundamental tools was gathered at a time when it was common practice to disparage Russian industry for its shortcomings and inefficiency. Other examples cited are Nexen Inc.,'s successful exploitation of the Masila Block which has been producing an average of 118,300 barrels per day since 1993, which yielded $636 million in corporate cash flow in 2001. Nexen's 'Yemenization' program achieved 65 per cent employment of local hires and set an 80 per cent target for 2009, with scholarships and technology transfer plans serving the goal. This example of attention to community benefits such as employment, civic and health services, goes far towards making up for the Canadian drawback of small size by global industry standards. The independent streak in Canadian international oil and gas enterprise also continues to show most clearly at Talisman Energy, with its globally controversial role in Sudan. Despite continuous wrangling with missionary groups and advocates of U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Talisman Energy was able to persuade the government to make public the government's share in proceeds from the oil development and to obtain a commitment to use them for community development rather than war. Talisman Energy is also ready to export the community relations and benefits techniques being learned in Sudan to all its international interests

[en] The evolution of working conditions for women in the oil industry is chronicled, with particular reference to obstacles experienced by women professionals to rise to executive levels. The observations recorded here are based on pioneering research in a doctoral dissertation accepted by the University of Calgary's management faculty in 1998, entitled: ^The frontier cowboy myth and entrepreneurialism on the culture of the Alberta oil industry: Professional women's coping strategies: An interpretive study of women's experience'. Obstacles to women rising to the top in the industry are attributed to the demands and challenges of a frontier environment that characterize much of the oil industry, and the world of concrete problems in which oil men live and work, a world in which rationality and objectivity tend to create unambiguous clarity. Some changes have become evident in recent years, but they have not yet penetrated the top levels. There is some effort to accommodate women, but there is still a long way to go to achieve acceptance

[en] This paper described the one time interruption of operations by Nexen Inc., a Canadian senior international company that evolved as Canadian Occidental Petroleum Co. The interruption occurred for a twelve-hour period in 1994 during the civil war in Yemen. Its oil production for the first quarter of 2001 was 217,800 barrels per day, with 62 per cent coming from Yemen, Australia and Nigeria. Almost two-thirds of the operating profits (63 per cent) were derived from outside Canada's borders. The holistic approach to any project is what sets this company apart from the others in the field. The host country benefits from production-sharing contracts as well as community benefits. They can range from contributions to water supplies, health care, education, jobs as is the case in Yemen, as well as a training program set up at the University of Calgary or the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology with paid tuition for nationals of the host country to learn the basics and higher skills. Being a good corporate citizen means extra expenditures and additional work but the whole affair opens doors that might have remained closed for the company. It helped ensure Nexen was granted 93,000 square kilometers of drilling prospects in the Arabian Peninsula, namely in the Empty Quarter. It is a region located along the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Intelligence also plays a big part in the equation. Every day, the marketing department handles 500,000 barrels of oil and three billion cubic feet of gas. It recognized the early signs of the late 1990s oil slump and the managers used the opportunity to get ready for the next phase. This attitude also means the company will not operate in some locations, one of which being Sudan. Talisman is experiencing difficulties related to its involvement in the country despite efforts to help the local communities. The role of Gulfstream, a global venture capital firm based in the United Kingdom was also discussed. It is imperative to remember the differences that exist between countries and that each deal will be somewhat different from the previous. The international experience of QMax Solutions Inc. was discussed, and how it gathered the necessary expertise from various sources. 7 figs