Business of Energy - April 202

OF ENERGY

APRIL 2022

MORE THAN A LENDING HAND ATB’S JON HORSMAN ON HOW HIS BANK SUPPORTS ALBERTA’S ENERGY INDUSTRY

Solutions that energize your business.

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In a rapidly changing world, you need a financial partner that can help you overcome challenges and identify opportunities. At ATB, we’re focused on your business today—developing tailor-made solutions that deliver results, tomorrow.

We’re fluent in adapting to what lies ahead.

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OF ENERGY VOL 4, ISSUE 2 | APRIL 2022

PUBLISHERS

Alberta’s Oilpatch Will Go from Zero to Hero in 2022

by David Yager

More Than a Lending Hand

by Melanie Darbyshire

04 07 11 15

Profile: Terra Water Systems April 2019

by Rennay Craats Leaders Must Do the Right Thing for the People of Ukraine

by Cody Battershill

Pat Ottmann & Tim Ottmann

EDITOR

Melanie Darbyshire

COPY EDITOR Nikki Mullett

ART DIRECTOR

Jessi Evetts jessi@businessincalgary.com

ADMINISTRATION/ ACCOUNTING Natalia Lopes natalia@businessincalgary.com

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Melanie Darbyshire David Yager Cody Battershill Rennay Craats

COVER PHOTO

Riverwood Photography

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COVER 3 • Business of Energy • April 2022

David Yager | Alberta’s Oilpatch Will Go from Zero to Hero in 2022

ALBERTA’S OILPATCH WILL GO FROM ZERO TO HERO IN 2022

by David Yager

A

year ago I wrote on these pages, “The pre-COVID economic playbook will not survive in the post-pandemic world.

Domestically produced resources will again be recognized as an asset, not a liability. Alberta is very well positioned to be a winner in Canada’s economic future.”

Why? Because “the entire energy transition concept from fossil fuels to renewables is a pre-COVID phenomenon, conceived and funded during a period of significant economic growth supported by government spending.”

My prediction is now fact. After seven years in the economic (oil and gas prices) and political (climate change before cost) wilderness, Alberta is back.

And it will get better as 2022 progresses.

The world is rotating so quickly that 12 months seems like eternity. Last year in February, WTI averaged US$59. This year it was over US$90 with the full impact of events in Europe unknown. Natural gas averaged C$3 in February of 2021. This year it was 50 per cent higher.

Oil and gas production revenue and cash flow estimates are huge. According to ARC Energy Research Institute on February 21, revenue from producing over eight million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2021 hit an all-time record $154 billion, generating after-tax cashflow of $86 billion, another record.

This year looks even better. ARC figures revenue could reach $189 billion and cashflow $113 billion.

Forecast cashflow is nearly double the best year in history, 2014.

But to have the impact it could or should have on the greater economy, producers must invest in new reserves and production. The reinvestment ratio last year – how much cash flow is spent on capital expenditures (CAPEX) – was only 34 per cent, the lowest in history.

That’s when Alberta’s economy really starts to smoke – when the industry is hiring people, buying equipment, contracting services, increasing production and building infrastructure.

While public estimates of 2022 CAPEX are greatly improved, the reinvestment ratio based on what the industry has announced in the first two months is still only 33 per cent.

How can this industry generate so much cash and reinvest so little? While increased production royalties and corporate taxes have helped the Alberta government forecast the first balanced budget in eight years, will more of that money go back in the ground and into the wallets of its citizens?

Ellen R. Wald Ph.D. is an oil analyst and author.

On her webpage she calls herself a “Historian and Scholar of the Energy Industry and Western Involvement in the Middle East.” Wald writes for all the major media outlets including

4 • Business of Energy • April 2022

Alberta’s Oilpatch Will Go from Zero to Hero in 2022 | David Yager

There are four main reasons, and they are all relics of the of the recent past. Like 2021. They are not complicated, and reversible. Assuming, of course, that governments, regulators and investors agree with my analysis of a year ago – that the pre-COVID dog won’t hunt in the postCOVID world, and renewables as a reliable energy source are totally oversold.

Wald’s first point is ‘Regulatory Uncertainty’. It is number one and it should be. The U.S. and Canada have elected federal governments that won elections in 2020 and 2021 on strong commitments to tax, legislate and regulate the world’s largest combined oil and gas producing countries into a new era of reduced emissions and lower carbon energy sources.

If producers are not investing, that’s only because they have been told repeatedly for years that they are in the wrong business doing the wrong thing. In the U.S., a recent record sale of exploration rights in the Gulf of Mexico was overturned by an environmental court challenge.

What should the industry do? Where can it go? Why invest in Canada or the U.S.?

The second is ‘Hesitancy from Financiers’. It seems like eons ago (although it was only November) that the industrious and ambitious former Bank of Canada head Mark Carney went to the COP 26 gathering in Glasgow with US$130 trillion in commitments from most of the western world’s largest banks and financial institutions to use their capital as leverage to help reduce emissions.

Called the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, it included the big six Canadian banks, lenders which have made a bundle financing Canada’s oil and gas industry.

It has become a badge of honor to deny or restrict funding to the fossil fuel business. As a result, producers wonder if their future business model should be to operate without debt because of the pledges of their historic lenders. So they are paying down debt instead of creating jobs and producing more fuel.

More producers are announcing they are, or soon will be, debt free.

The third was ‘Environmental Positions’. Last summer Quebec blocked the Energy Saguenay LNG export project ostensibly to reduce global emissions. Too many still believe it is acceptable, even righteous, to vandalize pipeline projects as was recently demonstrated at Coastal GasLink.

After Russia invaded Ukraine and exposed serious challenges with affordable and secure oil and gas supplies globally, international U.S. climate change envoy John Kerry worried publicly that the current preoccupation on fuel and food would increase emissions.

He won’t do that again.

National Post columnist Conrad Black wrote on February 26, “…John Kerry…complained that the military subjugation of the autonomous nation of Ukraine was a distraction from the existential crisis of climate change. The existential crisis isn’t posed by the climate, but people like him.”

Wald’s last issue was ‘Share Prices’. She wrote, “Oil companies are demonstrating a preference for short-term, high share prices.” Producers have put the present before the future and are increasing dividends instead of increasing CAPEX. This is what they have been repeatedly told

5 • Business of Energy • April 2022

Alberta’s Oilpatch Will Go From Zero to Hero in 2022

www.investing.com. On February 17, her article was titled: “Market Conundrum: With Oil Prices So High Why Is Exploration, Production So Low?”

David Yager | Alberta’s Oilpatch Will Go from Zero to Hero in 2022

their shareholders want. Until recently, producers that announced higher spending on replacing production and expanding reserves had been punished on the public capital markets.

But all of the reasons explaining producer behavior predate current conditions. As oil and gas prices rise, the same western governments that were at the forefront of putting climate votes before energy security are pivoting at an amazing rate. The reversal in tone and priorities is remarkable.

The world has awakened to the fact that whatever we should do in terms of lowercarbon energy sources, not having access to energy or having it priced beyond affordability is much worse.

How will that manifest itself?

Let’s review Wald’s main points.

Regulatory Uncertainty will diminish.

Governments will understand that blocking new supplies of oil and gas and the infrastructure to move it around to help moderate prices is no longer the vote-getter that it has been. Voters are now roaring globally about higher costs for everything, and politicians ignore them at their peril.

Hesitancy from Financiers will diminish as they follow the money. This will be greatly assisted by the disappearance of other places to park capital and achieve safe and satisfactory returns.

For the first two months of 2022, of the 10 main economic sectors in the S&P Composite Index, only Energy was in the black, up 23 per cent year-to-date. The other nine including Financials, Real Estate, Information Technology, Utilities and Consumer Discretionary were underwater, four experiencing double-digit declines.

Environmental Positions will decline. As the world deals with real problems ranging from military conflict to inflation rates, headline stories of how coastal cities will soon be submerged if we don’t immediately commit everything to Net Zero by 2050 will disappear.

In its February 2022 IPSOS survey: “What Worries the World,” climate change ranked tenth, registering as an issue among only 14 per cent of respondents. But 63 per cent believed their governments were on the wrong track in addressing with their priorities.

As for Share Prices, there’s so much cash flow that producers could increase CAPEX and maintain or increase dividends. In fact, profits are rising so quickly that they have already become a political target. It is easy to see how politicians might look at the huge prosperity in the ’patch and conclude that if producers don’t spend their massive cash flow on increasing supply and reducing consumer prices, the government will grab it instead.

In Canada, deficits and inflation are rising. Higher interest rates are assured. The best antidote is more jobs generating significant private sector economic activity. For governments, rising employment equates to higher taxes and lower support social support costs. Oilpatch jobs are great because they pay well.

The federal government does not have the financial flexibility to decree where employment growth should be permitted or continue to support or expand social programs that withhold greater participation in the private sector workforce.

What does this mean? That by the fourth quarter of 2022 you won’t know the place. The supply chain challenges the industry must overcome to do more – everything from people to pipe – will take time. But oilpatch CAPEX will rise as society’s priorities change and the year progresses.

Since I was right early 2021 that things would change for the better of Alberta, I am confident in predicting that things will get even better yet B as 2022 unfolds. OE

David Yager is a Calgary oil service executive, energy policy analyst, writer and author. He is president and CEO of Winterhawk Well Abandonment Ltd., a methane emission reduction technology company. His 2019 book From Miracle to Menace - Alberta, A Carbon Story is available at www.miracletomenace.ca.

6 • Business of Energy • April 2022

More Than a Lending Hand | Cover

Jon Horsman. Photo by Riverwood Photography

MORE THAN A LENDING HAND ATB’S JON HORSMAN ON HOW HIS BANK SUPPORTS ALBERTA’S ENERGY INDUSTRY

by Melanie Darbyshire

A

s the largest Alberta-based financial institution, ATB Financial has been a key player in this province’s energy industry for decades. Today, it has one of the largest dedicated energy financial service teams in Canada, financing companies in oil and gas exploration and production, drilling, oilfield services, midstream, pipelines, utilities and renewables. Indeed, energy is one of ATB’s core verticals, along with agriculture, real estate and diversified businesses.

Given this long history, ATB’s team has firsthand experience with the cycles experienced by Alberta’s energy industry, from boom to bust to

boom again. Always along for the ride, it has a uniquely informed perspective.

“Alberta’s energy industry has never been better,” declares Jon Horsman, senior executive vice president, Business, ATB Financial and CEO, ATB Capital Markets. “We’re in a period of consolidation again in part due to the material increase in the scale and intensity of capital programs required for companies to compete in the industry. Many of these new technologies and processes that we’re deploying have a laser focus on cost reductions. Also, because of various movements globally around ESG, better economies of scale are required to face an

7 •7Business • Business of Energy of Energy • December • April 2022 2020

Cover | More Than a Lending Hand

ambiguous changing regulatory and disclosure environment.”

It’s a cycle Horsman, who has been with ATB Financial since 2003, has seen before, previously in the early 2000s. Consolidation then was due to the risk of losing Alberta head offices to the U.S. during the so-called ‘brain drain’ to south of the border. “We needed to put a fortress of corporate entities together and concentrate our capital, knowledge base and understanding of our own basin into Calgary head offices,” he explains. The merger between Alberta Energy Corporation and PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. to form EnCana in 2002 is a prime example.

After that consolidation cycle came a period of fragmentation, driven by a wave of risk capital coming into the oil patch from income trusts. Companies broke up, predominantly into separate development, exploration, and operating companies, and a ton of capital was consumed.

“We unlocked energy self-sufficiency in North America with some of our great innovations,” Horsman recalls. “SAGD, fracking technologies.

We demonstratively changed the production profile of the North American energy complex and it was good. Many E&P businesses during that time were focused on growth and often outspending cash flow. Today, the narrative has shifted with businesses focused on sustainability and governments on energy security. We’ve been working through a resetting of the industry since then.”

That fragmentation cycle saw ATB expand its breadth and depth in the industry. “As the number of companies grew and proliferated, we grew in size and capabilities as well,” he says.

“By the end of the cycle we were probably the most prolific (on a count basis) financier of the Canadian energy patch.”

And just like after the last fragmentation cycle, Horsman believes a consolidation cycle is on the horizon. ATB is ready for the shift.

“We’re moving with industry,” he says. “For example, in 2010 there were 249 oil and gas

After that consolidation cycle came a period of fragmentation, driven by a wave of risk capital coming into the oil patch from income trusts.

8 • Business of Energy • April 2022

More Than a Lending Handr | Cover

issuers regulated by the Alberta Securities Commission. Today we’re down to under 137.

Major consolidation. And we’ve moved our business with that trend. We have fewer clients now. Whereas we might have had a book of 300 clients a decade ago, we’re now down to about a third of that. But we have higher loan commitment amounts per client than in the past. Our financial support to the industry is actually roughly similar. However, we have expanded our offerings from lending to full capital market services and are now even more relevant to the industry.”

As an Alberta-based financial institution, ATB tends to ride the industry cycles in opposition to the big Canadian and international banks. Whereas the latter tend to expand their scope during upcycles and retreat in downcycles, ATB grows in times of contraction and defends its market share in times of expansion.

“We’ve built some great relationships and identified some good companies and find ourselves always expanding through these down cycles,” Horsman notes. “I don’t fault our competitors because they give ATB the opportunity to grow, expand and stay relevant.”

Adapting to the changing broader trends in the industry has meant some changes to ATB’s strategy too. For example, the bank took loan losses in the juniors’ sector during the 2016/17 downturn; as the underlying economics of those business models changed, so did the cost and form of capital necessary for those companies to survive and thrive.

“Those companies have changed and so have we,” he says. “It’s inappropriate to lever up companies and then put them into bankruptcy. So those companies are now more properly financed or have consolidated into larger entities. The consolidators are presently the catalyst that will drive us into the next cycle of putting new business models to work, to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace, including those associated with energy industry transformation around ESG initiatives.”

A number of ATB’s clients are also in renewables (wind, solar and natural gas conversion), a growing sector thanks in part to Alberta’s deregulated electricity market. This has provided opportunities for developers and some oil and gas producers to move into the production of electricity.

“Alberta will end up, I think by 2025, the most prolific renewable electricity producer in all of Canada,” Horsman opines. “It’s a huge opportunity for us since a lot of international companies are looking for renewable electricity production, which they can’t find elsewhere. They’re investing in Alberta because we can provide it. Amazon’s recent off-take announcement is a good example.”

In addition, he says, Alberta is well-positioned to deliver on the Canadian goals of net zero emissions. “We have the technology and expertise to do so but more than anything, we have the geology. We can move the entire patch from an emission emitting industry to a net-zero emission industry. Canada has some of the most responsibly produced energy in the world, and we are getting exponentially better and cleaner.”

9 • Business of Energy • April 2022

Morea Than a Lending Hand

“Alberta will end up, I think by 2025, the most prolific renewable electricity producer in all of Canada,” Horsman opines.

Cover | More Than a Lending Hand

He notes high-emitting industries around the world are also looking at Alberta as a place to achieve zero emission targets. “We can actually be a hub of driving not just our own industry, but global industries, on a net-zero basis.”

Coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Horsman notes demand for energy is expanding while at the same time, supply constraints are driving commodity prices up. For companies that made it through the last downturn, he says the opportunity is ripe to supply the world with Canadian energy. “This will spark a reinvestment cycle of both renewable and traditional energy to build supply up to the level of consumption and demand. This is always the most interesting part of the cycle because it’s the growth or expansion cycle.”

For everyday Albertans, it’s good news.

“Many people don’t appreciate the value of energy security and how Alberta has changed its production profile,” he continues. “The front-end capital investment in the oil sands, between 2008 to 2014, gives us a rock-solid production profile that doesn’t change through time. These are 10- to 20-year production profiles, very stable supply, something we’ve never seen before. And we’ve done most of the

capital investment. Going forward it’s mostly just operating and maintenance costs.”

This production profile is incredibly valuable for the world, for North America and for Alberta. “Stability is predictability, which means less risk, which means more stable cash flows, more stable production profiles,” Horsman explains. “The commodity price will go up and down, we can manage that. But the stability of production is deeply interesting to a world in need of energy security.”

Add to this the fact that many oil sands projects are moving into full royalty payments (after completion of cost-recovery of the initial investment), which further pads Alberta’s pockets.

He notes the provincial budget in late February, which was balanced, as a sign of better times ahead. “We’re one of the few jurisdictions on the planet, coming out of COVID, with a balanced budget. Part of it is the commodity price. But it’s also about good policy and the stability of the production profile.”

More than a lending hand to Alberta’s energy industry, ATB is an integral part of the industry.

As we enter the next cycle, it will be there, providing experienced financial leadership to B many. Exciting times lay ahead. OE

10 • Business of Energy • April 2022

Terra Water Systems:

Alex Raath P.Eng. – Field Operations Manager, Todd Esler P.Eng. – President, Jay Xu P.Eng. MSc Eng Engineering Manager.

The End-to-End Remote Water Solution Provider

by Rennay Craats with photos by Riverwood Photography

T

erra Water Systems has provided full-service water solutions for remote camp environments for 20 years.

In that time, it has been a small private company, part of a large public service provider, and then again a grassroots private entrepreneurial-based company. Today it offers a wide range of full-service remote water solutions throughout Canada and the U.S. “We started with the idea to build portable equipment that can be relocated as camps reposition, is user friendly, is plug-and-play, meets the regulatory guidelines and can be managed by Terra Water as opposed to the camp operator or client of the camp,” says Todd Esler, president of Terra Water Systems.

The company established itself by treating and disposing of onsite sewage in an environmental way, working within the appropriate legislation and regulations of the project. Terra Water’s work caught the attention of a large public energy

service provider that was already a satisfied client and they bought Terra Water in 2006.

Overnight, the company became part of a multitentacled monolithic company. Management was able to remain an agile engineering-based operation that built equipment and had skilled mechanical labour and engineering services that were adaptable to all work camp environments. The new parent company offered Terra Water corporate structure such as human resources, finance, safety and labour support allowing it to grow its customer base while keeping its original name and operating relatively independently.

It did not take long before Terra Water began working with the industry’s major work camp providers whose focus was major permanent infrastructure projects for water, sewage and fire water systems. When the oil and gas market fell in 2015, it’s parent company refocused

Terra Water Systems • Celebrating 20 years

11

on its core operations and began selling its non-core holdings. Steve Stein, an established fixture in the oilfield services sector, approached Esler and the parent company’s executive team about buying Terra Water and they struck a deal in 2019.

“We had built a much bigger business than was sold in 2006, with a wider client focus. The company we bought in 2019 allowed us to go back to being very nimble and creative in our approach to solving our clients’ problems,” Esler says. “We don’t have to take on projects that fit a certain risk profile and we’ve expanded into additional heavy industries whereas our previous parent company was very focused on oil and gas exploration and production.”

Today, nearly half of Terra Water’s revenue comes from the energy sector and it continues to work on various pipeline, LNG and infrastructure projects across Canada. With its solid reputation for quality and service, the company is also poised to enter other markets to expand its scope and client base in the future.

“We want to leverage what we’re good at, which is engineering, design, fabrication, installation and operation, into other revenue streams,” Esler says.

Terra’s in house fabrication capacity results in delivery schedule and project cost certainty.

Terra’s extensive rental fleet include water distribution, potable water production, fire suppression and sewage treatment preengineered packages.

Unparallel customer service, anchored by Terra’s HSE program, delivered through our Construction Services or Field Maintenance groups.

The company is exploring opportunities in light municipal work, seasonal recreational community projects, utilities and commercial water and wastewater treatment projects while continuing to offer unparalleled service to its current clients. Terra Water has struck OEM channel partnerships with major water and wastewater component developers allowing them to leverage the engineering expertise and product reputation of their partners as well as ensuring specialized equipment is readily available to current and prospective clients. The company is also working with other partners to provide new technologies for a more robust suite of services that can help reduce costs for camps’ water and wastewater requirements. In addition, it is a Certified Quality System – ISO 9001:2015 company.

Terra Water partners closely with clients to manage generated sewage for treatment and onsite disposal, produce potable water from non-potable sources, and build fire suppression infrastructure, offering custom solutions and regulatory compliance/reporting support for clients. Its asset deployment and engineering teams provide a pre-engineered solution for service management while the in-house engineering, drafting and manufacturing team ensures that its equipment is geared to meet the specific operational and regulatory requirements of the project.

Skilled installations professionals provide onsite labour for camp installation projects specific to mechanical utility connections. Terra Water also offers long-term operation and maintenance of the systems, giving clients peace of mind that this critical infrastructure will function properly, allowing the camp to operate smoothly.

Terra Water Systems • Celebrating 20 years • Page 2

ALBERTA STANDARD METAL IND.

Alberta Standard Metal Industries business model is not the conventional.

We do not advertise, we do not utilize a website, we do not have a sign on our building. What we do is partner as a team player with stringently selected companies to produce their specific metal products in such a way as to contribute in every way possible to their success.

Terra Water Systems is one of those select companies that we have had the privilege to participate with, as a team player in their products since day one of their inception. Thank you for contributing to our opportunities and our success.

Congratulations Terra Water Systems under the direction of Todd Esler, for your perseverance, your vision and all your Achievements.

Asmi Team

We wish continued success for you and the list of entities that you service and care for.

“We expect to be there with our clients for as long as they and the facility are there,” Esler says.

Leading Emergency Response and Business Continuity Planning & Emergency Management professionals

Congratulations to the whole team at Terra Water Systems on the milestone of 20 years in business!

Wishing you future success for the next 20 years!

403-444-6940 • www.behrintegrated.com

CONGRATULATIONS

Terra Water Systems on 20 Years!

www.blackdiamondgroup.com

CONGRATULATIONS Terra Water Systems 20th Anniversary!

We wish you many years of continued success.

3824 7th Street SE Calgary, AB, T2G 2Y8 info@chinookpumps.com • (403) 243-3310 chinookpumps.com

The Calgary company stations staff at its clients’ work sites across the country, and meets the diverse needs of clients with a staff of between 50 and 75 people depending on the projects. Terra Water tailors solutions to each project, whether it’s a greenfield gold mine or a SAGD facility or a very remote camp for a mining company. The variety and challenges inherent in it’s projects attract and retain a staff of creative thinkers for the long-term bringing a consistency and high level of experience to projects as well as fostering strong relationships with clients. Clients can count on exceptional service and a deep knowledge base that ensures environmental impact is minimal and regulatory requirements are met by designing the system that perfectly matches what is needed for each specific project.

Terra Water provides cost-effective project solutions with best-in-class value and has become a leader in safety and environmental stewardship in the industry. As a turn-key service provider, the company will design, build, install equipment, tie in utility services and provide certified operators to ensure the equipment operates at peak optimization and within regulatory compliance. The team determines the client’s end goals and helps them understand how to best achieve them. Together they address issues that may arise, many of which clients hadn’t even considered, and implement a plan to sidestep them.

“They want to have this remote work facility that either helps with expansion or kick-off of their project by a certain date.

We educate them on the options we can provide and we design something that meets their needs. We can retrofit something from our rental fleet or procure new or do a combination of both,” says Esler.

Whatever is needed, Terra Water is committed to its clients’ success, whether that is renting them the right equipment for the job or designing, installing and operating a complex water and wastewater system for as long as the camp is running. From potable water pump houses to fire suppression to plug-and-play portable water treatment plants for purified drinking water, Terra Water Systems has the end-to-end water solutions that make setting up remote camps easy and efficient for its valued clients.

Make Inclusive Energy your strategic partner today

Congratulations to Terra Water Systems on 20 years of business excellence!

HEAD OFFICE: (403) 444 6897 | SUITE 5050, 150 6TH AVE SW

INCLUSIVENERGY.COM

4208 118th Avenue South East Calgary, Alberta T2Z 4A4 (403) 203-2796 • info@terra-water.com www.terra-water.com

Terra Water Systems • Celebrating 20 years • Page 4

Leaders Must Do the Right Thing for the People of Ukraine | Cody Battershill

LEADERS MUST DO THE RIGHT THING FOR THE PEOPLE OF UKRAINE

by Cody Battershill

A

s the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine becomes more dire under intense Russian military attack, it’s difficult to predict what the situation will look like once this column is published.

But it’s clear that Canada and our Western allies must do everything we can to help Ukrainian citizens and to prevent the bloodshed from continuing in Ukraine and spreading through the European region.

I’ve said it before; some large-scale energy procurement decisions made by Canada and other allied nations aren’t always about pure commerce. When a society faces an existential threat from a hostile neighbour, that society deserves our humanitarian assistance – full stop.

As I’m writing, a global groundswell continues to develop on the topic of energy sources and their implications on a democratic Ukraine and it civilians. A consensus is developing.

In February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz suspended the certification of Russia’s Nord Stream 2, the natural gas pipeline running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

Canada recently banned Russian crude oil imports. And as of this writing, the U.S., European countries and Japan were in discussions over a similar ban on Russian oil imports.

Russia, one of the world’s largest petroleum shippers with exports of four to five million barrels per day (bpd) of oil and two to three million bpd of refined products, is becoming a global pariah as energy buyers shun its shipments.

At a time when much of the world desperately looks for appropriate tools to assist Ukraine, isn’t

it clear that we should make the global trade in energy one of those appropriate tools?

Let’s take this a step further. Canada’s reputation as a principled supplier of energy, produced to the highest environmental and climate mitigation standards and supported by a world-leading R&D community and a peerless workforce, means Canadian product can assist in filling the Russian void.

But the world will require more Canadian resources – not less. Those resources will include agriculture, forest products, potash, minerals and energy.

I just hope Canadians see this unprecedented crisis as a time for reflection on not only Russia and Ukraine, but on Canada as a global player.

That assistance can only come through a strong, focussed natural resources strategy, through policies for future Canadian development and export, and through considering how our values continue to align with environmental and climate leadership, strong social engagement, robust and transparent governance and a clear focus on energy security.

This isn’t just about commerce. Any discussion on sustainability and markets is a discussion about people. In Ukraine at this moment, a humanitarian crisis is growing, and our values dictate that we must support that population B any way we can. OE

Cody Battershill is a Calgary realtor and founder / spokesperson for CanadaAction. ca, a volunteer-initiated group that supports Canadian natural resources sector and the environmental, social and economic benefits that come with it.

15 • Business of Energy • April 2022

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