Business of Energy - September 2021

OF ENERGY

SEPTEMBER 2021

A FRESH PERSPECTIVE GURPREET LAIL TAKES OVER AS PRESIDENT & CEO OF PSAC

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OF ENERGY VOL 3, ISSUE 3 | SEPTEMBER 2021

PUBLISHERS

Carbon Capture a Key Climate Solution

by Cody Battershill

Abandoned Wells, Stranded Assets and Alberta’s Environmental Future

by David Yager

04 05 09 13

A Fresh Perspective FEBRUARY 2019 Melanie Darbyshire

Profile: Great Canadian Solar

by Nerissa McNaughton

Pat Ottmann & Tim Ottmann

EDITOR

Melanie Darbyshire

COPY EDITOR Nikki Mullett

ART DIRECTOR

Jessi Evetts jessi@businessincalgary.com

COVER PHOTO

EWAN PHOTO VIDEO

ADMINISTRATION/ ACCOUNTING Natasha Walz natasha@businessincalgary.com

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Melanie Darbyshire David Yager Cody Battershill Nerissa McNaughton

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COVER 3 • Business of Energy • September 2021

Cody Battershill | Carbon Capture a Key Climate Solution

CARBON CAPTURE A KEY CLIMATE SOLUTION

by Cody Battershill

J

ust when you thought the energy industry and the environmentalist movement had found a way to be on the same page, along come more than 500 green organizations calling on policymakers to reject carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.

That’s right. In spite of the fact CCS has progressively become a priority for Canadian industry and government alike, this new band of Canadian and U.S. green groups views CCS as “a false solution” and “a distraction.”

CCS is the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the hope of benefitting Earth’s climate. An example is the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line, a pipeline that captures CO2 emitted by a bitumen refinery and a fertilizer plant outside Edmonton. The line carries CO2 to a field where it is pumped into the ground, much of it buried forever while some is used to increase oil recovery.

Currently the line is projected to capture 1.6 million tons of CO2 per year — the equivalent of taking an estimated 300,000 cars off the road.

And it has the capacity to capture an additional 13 million tons of CO2 per year.

Shell Canada’s proposed Polaris CCS project near Edmonton would capture CO2 from its Scotford refinery and chemicals plant and then employ a storage capacity of about 300 million tons of CO2 over the life of the project. The initial phase is expected to start operation around 2025, subject to Shell’s final investment decision, and construction could create up to 2,000 jobs.

Polaris would initially capture more than 90 per cent of the CO2 emissions related to hydrogen production in the Scotford refinery hydrogen plants, thus producing blue hydrogen for use in the refining process.

Yet in a letter published as a full-page ad recently in Canada’s Hill Times and the U.S.based Washington Post, green signatories claimed CCS “does not halt the core drivers of the climate crisis — fossil fuel production and consumption — or meaningfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

For the government of Canada, CCS is seen as a clean energy technology that can reduce CO2 emissions in order to help protect our economy, our environment and our communities.

There’s really no doubt the majority of Canadians support the energy sector and appreciate its progress and its enormous societal contribution.

A recent public opinion poll performed by Research Co. for my organization found almost three in four Canadians (73 per cent) acknowledge Canada’s prosperity is supported by the oil and gas sector, that global markets should prioritize jurisdictions like Canada that are leaders in climate and environmental protection, and that Canadian oil and gas products help fund important social programs like health and education for Canadians.

Canada’s energy sector has made huge inroads in clean technology like CCS. Environmental groups should rethink their approach and get back on the CCS page, for the benefit of B Canadian families and communities. OE

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

4 • Business of Energy • September 2021

Abandoned Wells, Stranded Assets and Alberta’s Environmental Future | David Yager

ABANDONED WELLS, STRANDED ASSETS AND ALBERTA’S ENVIRONMENTAL FUTURE

A

by David Yager

lberta’s most complicated, frequently criticized yet least understood subject is abandoned wells, mature resource asset reclamation and what to do next.

The trade term is Asset Retirement Obligations (ARO), a legal requirement carried as a liability on every oil and gas producer balance sheet.

The public discussion leads many to believe the situation is a bad and getting worse.

The “energy transition” goal is to turn fossil fuel resources into “stranded assets”: worthless with no economic value. Success for the more radical elements of the environmental movement is to turn Alberta in one giant stranded asset with dislocated oil workers retrained and repurposed to install solar panels on every rooftop.

Here’s what we’re told.

How oil and gas producers are supposed to return everything they have touched to pristine condition before they are forced out of business is never discussed. There is simply the repeated expectation and/or demand that they can and must do it.

There are 100,000 suspended, non-producing wells in Alberta. A common but regrettable assertion is that the current owners don’t care, go broke and send them to the Orphan Well Association without cleaning them up. Others claim some owners try to sell their liabilities to somebody else.

Throw in ESG investment and you’ve really got a challenge. Today’s activist investors are happy to own oil stocks so long as they shrink reinvestment programs and give their capital providers the most cash possible through debt repayment and dividends. Why put money back into the business? It has no future.

Landowners, primarily farmers and ranchers, are not getting paid their access rental fees, commonly called surface lease payments. Groups or individuals make headlines complaining about how poorly they are being treated.

The entity that is supposed to manage this issue expeditiously and economically is the Government of Alberta, currently Premier Jason Kenney and his UCP caucus. It is a massive challenge. Most people can’t even get their heads around its enormity.

Complex? Indeed. Broken? No.

All oil and gas assets pay municipal property taxes, but local governments complain whenever they are shortchanged or asked to reduce them.

Climate change activists are trying put all hydrocarbon producers out of business. Add this issue to recent challenges like collapsed oil and gas prices, pipeline blockades, onerous legislation and rising carbon taxes.

What the UCP inherited was over 450,000 wellbores (some reclaimed, most still existing) dating back to the late 1800s, more than 400,000 kilometres of oil and gas pipelines, 30,000 oil batteries, 21,000 gas plants, four refineries, five petrochemical hubs, and about 120 oil sands producing operations of various sizes.

5 • Business of Energy • September 2021

“

David Yager | Abandoned Wells, Stranded Assets and Alberta’s Environmental Future

Despite the size and complexity of the issue, there are continuous streams of advice coming from different directions. But all are reactive, not proactive. Nobody talks about big picture ARO for the province of Alberta, who will pay for it, and what a long-term plan should look like.

Add into the mix several generations of increasingly strict environmental protection and site reclamation requirement that are as or more rigorous than any in the world.

Despite the size and complexity of the issue, there are continuous streams of advice coming from different directions. But all are reactive, not proactive. Nobody talks about big picture ARO for the province of Alberta, who will pay for it, and what a long-term plan should look like.

It will be expensive. If decommissiong all the wellbores averaged $100,000 each, the total would be $45 billion. Reclaiming all the other stuff which will add many more tens of billions.

But these figures are only estimates because they don’t anticipate the reclamation regulations of tomorrow, which, based on history, will be increasingly costly.

The unstated expectation of the opponents of fossil fuels is that the industry will somehow fund its cleanup with what activists are working to ensure is continuously declining revenue and cash flow.

Reclaiming every site of oil and gas extraction and processing infrastructure is required by law.

This is undisputed. Every developer who has leased or licensed the right to exploit resources or build facilities acknowledges this and carries a monetary liability on their financial statements.

Most landowners are happy to have a well or facility on their property providing it isn’t noisy or polluting and the rent cheques keep coming. What is not recognized is how many private landowners actually obstruct the site reclamation process because they will never earn as much money from that piece of land once the oil company is gone.

Municipalities love hydrocarbon property tax income. They have been raising rates for years and are reluctant to reduce the tax value even when commodity prices decline, or the assets quit generating cash. Property taxes the from oil and gas industry have allowed municipalities to provide voters with improved or improving services without raising personal property taxes.

Albertans must have a serious and bigger picture discussion beyond which farmer just got screwed, or which amoral corporate carpetbagger went broke and stuck the unreclaimed assets into the Orphan Well Association.

It was economic conditions, not political incompetence, that left Alberta with this many inactive wells. If commodity prices were still as a high as they once were and pipelines weren’t an environmental war zone, a significant number of the suspended wells would still be producing and all stakeholders would be paid in full.

Here’s few basic facts about Alberta’s macroARO to lead the way to a more productive public discussion.

Thirty years of increasingly rigorous well abandonment and site reclamation requirements have significantly driven up the cost of wellbore

6 • Business of Energy • September 2021

| David Yager

abandonments and site decommissioning.

Nobody talks about how much these costs have risen, or that Alberta is one of the most expensive places in North America for this activity. Comparisons to other jurisdictions contain no regulatory context.

Wells drilled before 1990 didn’t require cement to surface. Before abandonment, today the owner must demonstrate there is cement near surface to seal the groundwater. Cementing the outside of wellbore casing after it has been drilled is complex and expensive.

Back in the day it was acceptable to bury old flare pits and mud sumps on drilling locations.

Today if you want to remediate the site you may have to conduct soil testing and dig these up and replace the soil, even if there is no surface pollution.

Getting a reclamation certificate – official acknowledgement that the site is fully remediated – can take years. If reseeding or reforestation is required, this could be seven years or longer. If things aren’t satisfactory the regulations may require the owner to dig it up and do it again, thus restarting the clock to a reclamation certificate.

Surface landowners too frequently obstruct the reclamation process. Some don’t actually want the land fully reclaimed because then the surface rent payments will stop. There isn’t a plant or animal that can be raised on the small amount of land used for a producing wellbore lease that will generate as much cash as an access road and well location. Whether or not that well still makes money for the owner is irrelevant.

The same goes for municipalities. There is very little interest in not collecting property taxes from wells that have quit producing or reducing the taxation value to reflect declining productivity or reduced commodity prices.

Many wells were drilled when natural gas fetched $10 per GJ. At various times in the past few years the spot price for gas in the summer has been at or near zero.

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Property Features

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7 • Business of Energy • December 7 • Business 2020 of Energy • September 2021

David Yager | Abandoned Wells, Stranded Assets and Alberta’s Environmental Future

“

Amending or relaxing the tough, new and expensive reclamation regulations that didn’t exist when legacy producing assets were created carries significant political risk. The environmental debate in the 21st century is loud, one-sided and often irrational.

The biggest cause of not paying pay surface lease rent and property taxes since 2014 is collapsed natural gas prices, not morally delinquent oil companies.

Amending or relaxing the tough, new and expensive reclamation regulations that didn’t exist when legacy producing assets were created carries significant political risk. The environmental debate in the 21st century is loud, one-sided and often irrational.

There is no cost too high to force an oil company to clean up its assets. If they go broke, then the other producers must pay. If they all go out of business – as planned if the enemies of fossil fuel are successful – then the government must do it.

Unless Modern Monetary Theory works – where governments can print unlimited amounts of cash forever and never have to pay anybody back – you are the government.

The same people that want fossil fuels replaced are the most vocal about how much the companies they are trying to put out of business should spend cleaning up their mess before the bankruptcy receiver changes the locks.

Not only will this end poorly, but it is impossible.

Here’s the good news.

The world is not going out of the fossil fuel business anytime soon.

The UCP government has already taken new steps to ensure all oil and gas producers commit a certain percentage of revenues to ARO. New technologies and processes that can reduce costs for well abandonment and site reclamation are being developed continuously.

Today’s hydrocarbon producers understand public expectations. At least for now, commodity prices have recovered enough that most companies are sufficiently profitable to fulfill their ARO commitments.

And if you haven’t connected the dots, a clean oil business is a healthy and profitable oil business.

Albertans should understand our province’s big picture ARO challenge and adopt positions that make success achievable, not continue to put forward obstacles and impossible demands and B expectations. 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.

8 • Business of Energy • September 2021

A Fresh Perspective | Cover

A FRESH

PERSPECTIVE

GURPREET LAIL TAKES OVER AS PRESIDENT & CEO OF PSAC

A

by Melanie Darbyshire

t first glance, it seems Gurpreet Lail has taken over as president and CEO of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) at a pretty decent time. Energy prices have risen and stabilized over the last year, the industry has consolidated, more efficient operations have been achieved, and the global economy appears set for continued growth over the long term.

Reasons for optimism to be sure, given the difficulties of the last half-decade. Indeed Lail, who took over in July, relays a sense of confidence about the future of the industry she advocates for, while at the same time remains candid about the many challenges that still lay ahead.

“Overall there’s a lot of optimism,” she says from PSAC’s offices in downtown Calgary. “But our members are still running lean and trying to catch up to all the cuts and challenges of the years prior.”

The key challenge right now is public perception about the oil and gas sector. “The industry as a whole is under siege,” she says.

“The narrative is always negative. We’re trying to bring it back to the positive, to tell the real story about how clean and innovative our energy in Canada is. We need to rise above all the noise.”

That real story is about the safest energy industry in the world. An industry that, at the micro level, has always operated in the spirit of continuous improvement in order to achieve positive outcomes, with greater efficiency.

Gurpreet Lail. Photo by Ewan Photo Video.

“And at the macro level,” Lail continues, “the sustainability of our industry is going to depend on its global competitiveness to develop projects that can help our energy customers get their products to the market.

So that when and where there is demand, our Canadian products can meet it.”

9 • Business of Energy • September 2021

Cover | A Fresh Perspective

Demand for oil and gas will continue to rise, she points out, in order to improve standards of living and lift global populations out of poverty: “Somebody has to supply this energy.

Our industry depends on a regulatory system that facilitates the Canadian supply. We can improve the emissions intensity of Canadian energy and make meaningful progress on social issues like Indigenous reconciliation, while also creating economic opportunities that our industry offers. All while providing the world with Canadian energy.”

Facts, unfortunately, are often overlooked at the expense of misinformation and rhetoric.

“We need a sense of urgency and speed,” she says.

“To facilitate the development of energy projects, including export pipelines. To build energy corridors across Canada to supply Canadian oil and natural gas, or hydrogen or electricity, you name it. But the regulatory environment must act with some speed so that Canada can stay competitive and compete with the world for capital market share in the energy markets.”

With a diverse background, Lail is up for the challenge. Born and raised in Calgary, she graduated from the University of Alberta’s law school with plans to become a major firm partner by the age of 30. A lymphoma diagnosis followed by an unexpected ‘miracle’ pregnancy sidelined her plans shortly after articles.

Epoch Energy Development – Canadian energy innovation at work.

A new mother, Lail left law and joined the Fraser Institute to work on public policy.

From there she joined the Manning Centre for Building Democracy where she worked on setting up its foundation. She then joined the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society (STARS) in 2010 as executive director, where she remained for more than eight years. After a short stint as president and CEO of Big Brothers and Sisters of Calgary and Area, she joined PSAC. “My background is very broad,” she acknowledges.

“I have the legal background. I have the policy background but I also have the relationshipbuilding background, which is something that’s not really taught. It’s just natural.”

It’s a skillset she plans to rely on when dealing with the approximately 190 PSAC members – companies in drilling and completions, fluids and chemical supply, production testing,

Halliburton Group Canada.

snubbing, cementing, truck services, pipeline and oilfield construction, pipe coding and others – who directly and indirectly employ roughly 500,000 people across Canada, predominately in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

They have come through a very difficult time, and are still adjusting.

10 • Business of Energy • September 2021

A Fresh Perspective | Cover

Tenaris - Automation and innovation in modern Canadian pipe manufacturing to serve the energy industry.

Ferus – LNG equipment substituting diesel, helping to lower the carbon footprint and locally made in Alberta.

“We’re down from $81 billion in 2014 to an estimated $37 billion this year,” she notes.

“Service companies – our companies – don’t earn revenue from the sale of oil and gas. They earn revenue from the work they do and only when they do it. So even though the oil prices may have recovered, the reinvestment and confidence has not.”

Companies are paying down debt, investing capital and trying to figure out their dividends. Merger and acquisition activity has also been high.

For example, during the COVID lockdowns, PSAC had to lobby the provincial government to ensure its workers were deemed essential workers – a fact Lail thought would have been a given.

PSAC also helps its members, many of which are small companies lacking resources, navigate the regulatory framework and other complex issues like ESG. “We help our members understand ESG platforms and keep them apprised on the ever-evolving landscape of ESG,” she explains. “We ensure each new ESG standard or improvement is understood and communicated to the members. Some companies are smaller than others, and it’s hard for them to find

A Fresh Perspective

world. “We advocate with governments, government agencies and the public,” Lail explains. “Within government, it’s three layers down to the policy makers and bureaucrats. We are telling them what we’re doing, and how our industry contributes to communities and the economy.”

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As an advocate for its members, PSAC’s aim is to elevate the conversation as a united voice for the energy service companies in Canada and around the

www.vinc.ca (403) 718-2200

11 • Business of Energy • September 2021

Cover | A Fresh Perspective

information or devote resources, for others it’s trying to keep up with the evolving file.”

Going forward, Lail plans to work on figuring out how all PSAC members can work together and collaborate on ESG, as they do on health and safety issues.

Innovation and technology is another area PSAC works on. As with most other industries, technological advancements are driving many evolutions in the oil and gas service sector. “There is a lot of technology coming out of our sector right now that people don’t know about,” Lail says. “We need to highlight it since it will create a more efficient workforce and help to reduce our environmental footprint.”

StreamFlo – Innovations in manufacturing equipment for our energy future.

Another important role Lail sees for PSAC is in bringing to light how much the industry gives back to various communities: “When you walk through the halls of the Alberta Children’s Hospital you see all these energy companies as donors listed on the walls, and many of these are service companies. We want to celebrate the great things our industry does to support the communities they work in.”

While advocacy is one important job PSAC has, education is the other. A mother to two teenagers, Lail laments the often-negative view Alberta’s oil and gas sector receives within the education system. “We need to start educating down to junior high and senior high level, to effect change on the curriculums to show Canadian energy in a better light – a true light. There are great opportunities to work and learn in our industry and we want students to be excited about the ways they can contribute to Canada’s energy sector.”

STEP energy services – fit for purpose stimulation and completion services.

In the short term, Lail is holding stakeholder engagement sessions with PSAC members to determine what the pressing issues are and what should be prioritized. “I want to make sure that we’ve got a good, strategic path forward,” she says. “We can’t create that without member input. I’m really excited about B where the future is going for us.” OE Women in energy.

12 • Business of Energy • September 2021

Clifton, President; Jourdan, Lead PV Installer; Andrew, Technical Sales Lead; April, HSSE Manager; Owen, Senior Project Manager; Julia, Operations Manager; Mark, Construction Manager and Dave, Quality Manager.

Photo by Rebecca Lippiatt.

Helping Albertans See the Light: Great Canadian Solar is Instrumental in the Growing Movement of Embracing PVs

By Nerissa McNaughton

G

reat Canadian Solar (GCS) was founded in 2009 by Clifton Lofthaug and Tamara Chivers to be an industry leader in renewables and to specialize in engineering, procurement, and construction of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The home-based business turned thriving corporation, and now celebrates 12 years of industry experience.

“The company was started from a passion to help people and businesses lessen their environmental footprint, says Lofthaug, president.

“From 2009 to 2014 we were the first solar company in Western Canada to have installed over 1.0 MW of solar capacity,” adds Julia

Edgar, operations manager. “Five years later we celebrated the installation of 10.0 MW of solar capacity. We expect, in 2022, to be celebrating 100.0 MW of installed solar capacity.”

The first project was the Bocock farm system.

“They provided us with our first opportunity even though we had no experience. This project launched GCS and we owe so much to the Bocock family,” says Lofthaug.

From there it was innovation and growth in quick succession. GCS is proud of its largest project todate with a major Oil and Gas (O&G) refinery. For Lofthaug, this project has a special meaning.

Great Canadian Solar • 1

13

“As an electrician, my dad helped build that O&G refinery in the 1980s and decades later I also spent several years working there as an electrician.

Today I get to return to site in a role that will help the refinery shrink its carbon footprint and make it more competitive,” he says.

GCS is also an innovator in the field with its Solar Seacan Solution. As a mobile solar power source, the array can take the place of a diesel generator for a variety of applications including construction sites, festivals, and remote locations. If it’s cloudy out, a diesel backup turns on automatically. The system is fast and easy to set up with energy available within minutes. Customers that have used this Solar Seacan Solution report saving around 90 percent of generator run-time and being able to power full worksites including field offices and computers.

Orion Plastics

However, it’s not just in the field where GCS focuses on innovation. The company prides itself on being inclusive and on being a 50 percent female-owned business.

“We love to watch employees take on new roles and responsibilities,” says Edgar. “April Hartt is a great example. Having joined GCS in 2014,

Congratulations Great Canadian Solar!

Leduc Recreation Centre

Expect Different

Solar Seacan Solution. Photo by Rebecca Lippiatt.

she went from little construction experience to becoming one of Canada’s most experienced female solar installers, and our company’s National Construction Safety Officer (NCSO).”

Suite 1300, Sun Life Place, 10123‑99 Street | Tel: 780.429.4403

www.hlhcpa.com

Edgar herself joined GCS after graduating from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s (NAIT) alternative energy program. She has

Great Canadian Solar • 2

been involved in multiple roles, from installation, regulatory approvals to technical sales, becoming one of GCS’s lead designers, to now the Operations Manager.

Interest in solar continues to grow and GCS is here to provide education and advocacy to help as many as possible make the transition.

“Having a good understanding of what your utility bill means and how the grid operates from a high-level perspective, allows for individuals to make informed decisions about where they get their energy from and typically, we find they always choose solar,” says Lofthaug. “Soon after an installation, your utility provider will start to show Micro-generation (MG) credits on your bill. However, what they do not show you, and what takes a bit of understanding, is how your utility bill is structured. We pride ourselves in delivering what we know as the savings due to avoided costs. It is typically more beneficial for a client to consume the energy that is being produced from their PV system instead of exporting it to the grid for a credit because by consuming your solar energy, you are avoiding transmission and distribution charges caused by pulling from the grid. The $/kWh of solar energy is worth more to you than the credit that the retailer will provide.”

Congratulations Great Canadian Solar on many years of service and dedication to the community!

1-800-557-FLUX • connect@fluxconnectivity.com

Switching to solar is more affordable than ever.

Edgar says, “Solar has steadily declined in price over the past 10 years. The other key component to the faster ROI is that the reverse is happening with grid pricing. We typically see a steady increase in electricity pricing, making solar more and more attractive especially when carbon pricing is considered.”

GCS has solar solutions for businesses and worksites of all types and sizes. Visit www. greatcanadiansolar.com or call 780-455-7277 today to start reducing your carbon footprint and save on utility costs.

Providing Renewable Energy Since 2009 Great Canadian Solar • 3

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