It is May – a little bit of spring cleaning. The winter has been busy and now is the time to deal with a few loose threads and look forward to the coming year. This is a new year and for once my members look busy into the summer and going forward. The financial markets like the seismic business and have invested long term dollars into it.
It looks like this will be the year that the Aboriginal issue comes to a head in Alberta. The Government has announced the schedule with August 1, 2006 as being the day that consultation begins. As I write this we continue to work towards guidelines for our sector. It seems as if we will have a different level of consultation for seismic, a temporary disposition, versus other industry activities that have permanent dispositions. Regardless there will be some fundamental change in how business is conducted in Alberta.
An important issue in Alberta is line widths. We have looked at this issue for over two years and have worked with the Alberta Government over the last 6 months to create an operational matrix. Nothing is perfect but it will provide some certainty for our people in terms of program regardless of area of operation. It will also afford the Government some political maneuvering and the ability to point to seismic as a shining star in the industry in reducing its footprint.
In the East we have lobbied against Nova Scotia releasing digital seismic data into the public domain. It almost appears that after some years of frustration with industry, they hope to prime the pump of interest by releasing the best information they have. We are contemplating fighting this issue in the media and through the MLA’s but have not settled on our final strategy as I write this column.
June is the month of our BC Geophysical Conference. Held June 21 and 22 this attracts industry, regulators and locals. It features the issues of the day in BC in geophysics and allows for dialogue and networking. BC looks to be a place of change in the upcoming year with a changing of the top management in OGC and potentially the new regulations for Oil and Gas coming out in the near future. Under the auspices of a results based system, industry would have somewhat of a learning curve.
Our Alberta Geophysical Conference is held in Red Deer in September. This attracts the largest crowd in the geophysical industry and offers a forum for discussion of the issues for the upcoming winter season. Throw some golf into our seminars, there is no doubt that everyone finds something to like about them! As well thrown in this year is Mrs. Red Earth back by popular demand to do her comedic seismic act.
Seismic in Motion (SIM) returns to Alberta in October. This is a one day field trip that shows all aspects of seismic in an interactive field trip. This event ballooned in 2004 hosting over 350 people and was followed up by a BC performance in 2005. In BC we also took along 75 students and their teachers with sponsorship by CAPP and a number of other financial sponsors. This year we have talked to the Calgary Board of Education and it appears that 150 students and teachers will attend in part sponsored by CAPP and the CSEG Outreach committee. This is a great tool for explaining the industry to the youth of today and exposing them to the business of Energy.
Last year we put out a GeoPlanner that was half reference and half calendar. The book went over very well and we will look into repeating the effort for the upcoming year. We have distributed this publication through industry, regulators and to various educational institutes in an effort to promote greater understanding. The benefit lies in communication and dialogue. We spend quite a bit of time at stakeholder meetings – town halls, classrooms, farmer forums and so on. These are not always filled with individuals who love seismic but it often provides a forum for learning. In fact we produced a DVD from SIM 2005 in a Seismic 101 fashion that has received very good reviews. It runs about 20 minutes but moves quick enough to keep the interest of any type of audience. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, give us a shout at the CAGC office.
On the training front we have begun work with CAPP on a one-standard for all of buried facility locators in the oil industry. This is important as a single standard ensures that there is no confusion for training and allows the highest levels of diligence and safety. Similarly the new standard for Fallers in the Oil and Gas Industry is coming together well with some 2,000 people registered to be grandfathered. This has received support from all 6 Trade Associations and is progressing smoothly. We hope to see the Wildlife Awareness CD come out this year and we plan on starting a seismic drilling course in the near future.
From the Thursday Files:
Reason only discovers the shortest way; it does not discover the destination.
– George Bernard Shaw
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