Over A Barrel - A CHOA Podcast about energy, and people who create it

Alberta’s oil and gas sector has been hit hard by the turmoil of the last 5 years. Crashing oil prices in 2015 and 2018, the blocking of pipeline expansions, a financial forecast that never materialized. A significant investment exodus from Canada is already underway, especially in Alberta’s fossil fuel industry, and with it a risk of eroding human capital. This is why the Energy Futures Policy Collaborative (EFPC), a two-year, multi-organization partnership stewarded by the Energy Futures Lab, is aiming to help policy leaders build better visions, establish bridges across seemingly divided camps, and — most critically — enable the development of policy signals that can reignite investor engagement/confidence in Alberta’s hydrocarbon resources, assets, and expertise. Together, a group of experts in technology, sustainable finance, policy, climate science, and energy transitions are working to answer the following question: How might Alberta leverage its existing hydrocarbon resources, assets, and expertise to build the clean economy of the future? This question is a growing imperative for a sector and industry historically at the heart of Canada’s economy, but which is now facing prevalent sustainability challenges and fast-evolving global energy systems and markets.
In this episode, Louisa DeCarlo discusses the EFPC initiative with Keren Perla, Director of the Energy Futures Policy Collaborative, Marla Orenstein, Director of the Natural Resources Centre at Canada West Foundation, and Adam MacKay, Director, Business Development with Fluor Canada. Special thanks to Allan To, Senior Supply Chain Management Leader and Strategic Advisor and Vice President of CHOA, who acted as co-host.
Once again, we would like to thank our sponsor, Fluor Canada Ltd. We are grateful to have such a wonderful company supporting us, thank you Fluor Canada!

In this episode, Louisa DeCarlo discusses hydrogen with Caralyn Bennett, Executive V.P. and Chief Strategy Officer of GLJ and CHOA president, David Layzell , Research Director at the Transition Accelerator, and Professor and Director of the Canadian Energy Systems Analysis Research (CESAR), a University of Calgary initiative, and David Mercer, Head of Technology and Sustainability for Fluor Canada.
Can a hydrogen economy make sense economically? Is there a compelling business case, energy systems, hydrogen applications, blue vs green hydrogen, integrating supply and demand, the challenges and opportunities to repurpose our existing infrastructure to transition to a low carbon economy are some of the things we talk about. Join us as we continue to dig into one of the hottest topics in energy. Special thanks to Caralyn Bennett who acted as my cohost and to our sponsor, Fluor Canada Ltd. (https://www.fluor.com/canada).

Energy Transition – The word on the street

Few people seem to appreciate how extremely complex energy transition is. Is it possible to transition to a low carbon intensity energy system quickly, cheaply, and safely, given the realities of energy demand and existing technologies associated with `green’ energy? In this episode my guests, Brad Hayes, Mark Brown and Gordon Holden, look at one of the many pathways proposed to reduce carbon emissions, the “Sustainable Development Scenario”, where the International Energy Association (IEA) outlines the assumptions to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2040. Using this information, we took energy transition to the street, and asked people about energy transition, their energy consumption, and the cost of energy. Tune it to hear what they had to say.

I am happy to welcome back Brad Hayes, who has a PhD in geology, and is President of Petrel Robertson Consulting Ltd in Calgary. Gordon Holden serves as an executive director on the CHOA board and is the founder of Energy Strategies & Project Associates, a boutique energy consultancy firm.
Mark Brown, who will cohost today’s episode, is the general manager for Fluor Canada. Over the course of his tenure with Fluor, Mark has served in many leadership roles in North America, Europe and Asia.
A very special thanks to our sponsor, Fluor Canada Ltd. and Mark Brown, who acted as my co-host.

Meet Chris Bloomer, President and CEO of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association (CEPA). With more than 30 years of experience in the domestic and international energy business, Chris leads the industry association that represents Canada’s transmission pipeline companies, who operate 134,000 kilometers of pipeline in Canada and the United States.
For 27 years, CEPA members have been working together to safely and responsibly transport the natural gas and oil that Canada and the world need. Thanks to ongoing collaboration and best practices facilitated through programs like CEPA Integrity First®, CEPA members’ efforts have resulted in technology, innovation, safety and environmental protection practices that rank among the best in the world— practices that CEPA members are continuously improving. As a leader in all ESG categories, Canada is setting performance benchmarks that all Canadians can be proud of.
In this episode, Chris talks about their recently published report, the CEPA 2020 Transmission Pipeline Industry Performance Report, which outlines the CEPA member performance in 2019 across the categories of safety, environmental protection and socio-economic contributions.
Chris describes how CEPA, initially focused on technical and safety aspects, has since evolved into much more; the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association and its members are now recognized as major socio-economic contributors.
Some other topics include the need to educate, collaboration, safety and prevention, the role of the pipeline industry as it relates to post-COVID-19 economic recovery and budget deficit, attracting investment, the importance of understanding and discussing the cost of transitioning to alternative energy supplies, and much more! Thanks to our sponsors, Canadian Spirit Resources Inc. and The Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.
For Chris Bloomer's bio, please go to https://cepa.com/en/about-us/leadership-team/
For additional information and resources on CEPA, the report discussed during this episode, or Canadian transmission pipelines in general, simply follow these links: CEPA.com, PR20.cepa.com, AboutPipelines.com

In today's episode, host Louisa DeCarlo has a frank and engaging conversation with JP Gladu, President of A2A Rail, and former President and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB). JP currently serves on the Board of Suncor and Noront Resources and is Chair of the Mkisew Group of Companies. JP is a member of the Sand Point First Nations of Lake Nipigon.

Mr. Gladu completed a forestry technician diploma and obtained an undergraduate degree in forestry from Northern Arizona University. JP also holds an Executive MBA from Queen’s university, and the ICD.d designation from the Institute of Corporate Directors Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

JP has over 25 years of experience in the natural resource sector, and has worked with Aboriginal communities and organizations, environmental non-government organizations, industry and governments across Canada. JP's passions include his lovely daughter Choe, nature, moose calling and of course, the development and support of Indigenous business.

Join us as JP shares stories about his personal journey, his career path and explains the importance of attracting capital to Canada, a country that ranks number one in the areas of technology, human rights, sustainable and responsible development.

If you would like to know more about Indigenous business, and other topics discussed during this episode, you can go to:

https://mokwateh.com/about/
https://undrip2020.ca/
https://www.ccab.com/
https://www.fpic.info/en/
https://a2arail.com/
https://mikisewgroup.com/

Thanks to our sponsors, Fluor Canada, Inter Pipeline, The Mikisew Group of Companies, and Suncor!

How do we best transition to cleaner energy in a sensible way, in a country that is so polarized, and in a society so easily swayed by the subjective voice of social media? Could blue hydrogen technology be the path to this transition? is it possible to accomplish a transition to clean energy while respecting our environment, and without jeopardizing our economy?
Join Armando Montes and Devin Lacey from GLJ Ltd, a top Canadian energy resource consulting firm, as we discuss the types of opportunities provided by hydrogen technology and find out how Alberta and Canada can become leaders and key players in the global hydrogen economy and market.
For information regarding the reports discussed on the show, go to: https://transitionaccelerator.ca/our-work/hydrogen/ and https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/getting-alberta-back-to-work-natural-gas-vision-and-strategy

Calgary is one of the most innovative cities in the world when it comes to energy. Today's show revolves around technology, innovation, and a cleaner future. Join me as I discuss some new and innovative technology with the Acceleware team, Geoff Clark, CEO, Dr. Michal Okoniewski, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder, and VP of Engineering, Laura McIntyre. Their radio frequency technology (RF XL) is a clean-tech development which could dramatically transform heavy oil and oil sands production. For more information, check out acceleware.com.
Thanks to my CHOA board colleague, Heath Williamson of CutBlack Ventures, who is sponsoring this episode. CutBlack Ventures is an investment and advisory firm focused on energy, real estate and digital media.

Join Bryan Helfenbaum, Executive Director of Advanced Hydrocarbons at Alberta Innovates, as he invites you to showcase your technical skills and compete in the Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge. The goal of this $15 million international competition is to accelerate the production of carbon fibre from bitumen-derived asphaltenes. This challenge is part of a broader “Bitumen Beyond Combustion” initiative by Alberta Innovates to further the development of non-combustion products and their production technologies, derived from bitumen contained in Alberta’s oil sands, which are among the world’s largest hydrocarbon resources with proven reserves of approximately 170 billion barrels.

The Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge is directed towards funding technologies and projects that can convert Alberta bitumen or asphaltenes derived from Alberta bitumen into carbon fibres. Carbon fibre’s high strength and stiffness make composite materials that incorporate carbon fibres functionally superior to many conventional materials for use in the transportation, infrastructure, construction and consumer product sectors. The Carbon Fibre Grand Challenge is directed towards funding technologies and projects that can convert bitumen or asphaltenes into carbon fibres. If successful, this grand challenge could help in diversifying our economy and further reduce the environmental impact of our industry, what's not to like!

Today's news, facts or fiction?
Is it possible that too many reporters bought into poorly conceived advocacy positions, and fail to provide readers with balanced information? We will discuss why Brad Hayes thinks the war room or the Canadian Energy Centre ( https://www.canadianenergycentre.ca/ ) is badly needed. We talk to Terry Etam, author of The End of Fossil Fuel Insanity and we chat about the need for people like Terry and Brad to demystify the energy industry and the challenges it faces, how did it get to be so bad?
To read Brad's article, go to https://www.jwnenergy.com/article/2020/1/alberta-needs-war-room-challenge-energy-ignorance/ and for Terry's book and website, go to https://publicenergynumberone.com/purchase-the-end-of-fossil-fuel-insanity-here/
and for information on ethics guidelines for Canadian Association of Journalists, go to https://caj.ca/ethics-guidelines