ASET Technology Alberta Winter 2020 - 20

new area and had identified a great production optimization
opportunity. I brought it forward and received approval to execute a fairly detailed workover program that resulted in an
increase of 500 BOED of production and additional reserve
bookings. It was not long after this that the animosity diminished with that engineer. I had proven myself worthy of being
" just " a technologist.
Shortly after joining Northrock, I received a call from a headhunter for a position at a smaller start-up called Ionic Energy
Inc. I listed all the pros and cons of staying or leaving and
made the decision to pursue the opportunity. I remember
the reasons for my decision like it was yesterday: it was a
smaller company with good growth potential; the title and responsibility (production manager); and good stock options.
Northrock was a good company but this was a career opportunity I could not refuse. I started with Ionic in the beginning
of January 2000. This was my first official role in " management " where I had both the field and Calgary office personnel
reporting directly to me.
It was April of 2001 when Shiningbank Energy Income Fund
purchased Ionic Energy and I had the choice of staying or
receiving a severance package. I chose the package and two
weeks later started a new role at Husky Oil Operations Ltd.
as a production manager in the Northwest Plains District. We
were a very busy district that drilled and brought onstream
over 250 wells per year. I enjoyed the role, but ultimately the
company was too large for my liking.
Luckily in April of 2003, a colleague contacted me asking permission to recommend me for a vice president of operations
position at a small company where he knew the president. I
met with the president of Virtus Energy Ltd. and was offered
to join the company shortly afterwards.
In April of 2005 Virtus Energy was going through a corporate
sales process when a new opportunity arrived. Another colleague of mine contacted me and asked if I wanted in on a
new start-up oil and gas company called White Fire Energy
Ltd. This was a tough decision that I was given only two days
to make. I could write a large cheque to financially participate
as a co-founder in the new company or I could stay at Virtus Energy until the sales process was over in 33 days and
receive a sizable severance payment. I ultimately wrote the
big cheque and walked away from the guaranteed severance
payment. I wouldn't blame you right now if you're thinking:
" This guy lost his marbles. " We'll come back to that at the end.
In May of 2005 I started at White Fire Energy Ltd. as cofounder and vice president of operations. I had similar re-

20 | WINTER 2020 | TECHNOLOGY ALBERTA

sponsibilities to my previous role except for one minor difference, which was actually a major hurdle. All of our operations
were critical sour (over 25 per cent H2S) and to obtain well
licenses we were required to do a ton of public consultation
with the community. It was a seven day a week endeavour to
develop strong relationships and build the trust necessary to
achieve confirmation of non-objection from all stakeholders
and residents within our emergency planning zones (EPZs).
We were ultimately very successful and obtained all the well
licenses needed for our first-year capital program. Not every
other operator was as lucky in building trust with the community, meaning they'd been stalled from receiving approved
well licenses from the regulator. One of these companies was
Highpine Oil & Gas Ltd.
In 2006, Highpine, a much larger company, made an offer
to purchase our company. Their mandate was to get back in
the good books with the community and obtain approval for
well licenses in order to proceed with their drilling program.
They saw Whitefire as the solution. Whitefire accepted Highpine's offer and I took up a senior position on the go forward
Highpine executive team as officer and vice president of operations. I oversaw six departments and over 60 employees.
As a result of the critical sour nature of our wells, we had to
demonstrate to the regulator, in hearing after hearing, that we
had sufficient emergency response measures in place to adequately protect the public. We assembled an amazing team
and were successful in obtaining over 75 critical well licenses
in our first year after the Highpine acquisition.
In fall of 2009, Highpine was purchased by Sinopec Canada.
Despite my expectation that my executive position would be
terminated, I was offered a senior executive position with
Sinopec. I was faced with another tough call. I remember this
decision well. I had a sense of loyalty to the excellent operations team I had built and felt like I would be abandoning them
if I left. I eventually moved onto a sweet, rather than critical
sour, new chapter.
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. was that new chapter. On 9 October 2009,
I started the job I had been waiting for my entire career. Part
of that opportunity was because of my old friend Jeff Tonken,
formerly of Stampeder and now the president at Birchcliff. I've
had the pleasure of working on our executive team with him for
the past 11 years. If you asked me now what the best company
I've worked for is, I would have to say Birchcliff.
Thank you for being patient with me on this walk down memory lane. I'll now take the time to pass on some tips to any new
technologists or working technology professionals that may
be feeling stuck or at a loss as to their next move.

ASET Technology Alberta Winter 2020

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