| All smiles at Petro-show |
| Wednesday, 12 May 2010 22:49 |
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ANGUS HENDERSON Despite the present economic recession and the downturn in the natural gas sector, it was near impossible to find any doom and gloom among the participants Tuesday, on the opening day of the third biannual Gas City Petroleum Show.
Indeed, there was a prevailing mood of cautious optimism that things were slowly getting better for the industry and that even better days lay ahead. Brad Penman, president of the Medicine Hat Oilmens Association, said he was really impressed with how things were moving ahead with new technologies in the industry many of which were in evidence inside and outside the Cypress Centre. He also noted that the oilpatch was feeling buoyed by the new, lower royalty regime, which the provincial government has announced will take effect in January, 2011. This is the first year that Penmans association has assisted the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce in helping organize the two-day event, and Penman said he was impressed with the great job the chamber had done, in conjunction with his group. He was also feeling optimistic, as he thought many in the industry were, about the new, lower royalty regime that the Alberta government will be introducing in January, 2011. Not only that, but Penman said he was encouraged how things were moving ahead in the energy industry due to new technologies many of which were on display at the show. One of those groups showing off its wares was the Medicine Hat-based Maverick Group of Companies. Those companies include ENTEGRA, GlobalFlow, Southern Plains Energy, and Marcon. They specialize in everything from providing instrumentation, electrical and optimizations services; to providing customization and fabrication of process equipment, metering skids and pressure vessels; to focusing on testing service requirements; and providing a portable Glycol Regeneration service. Company spokesman, Bruce McKenna, acknowledged that the economic downturn and the slow-down in the local natural gas sector was having an impact, but said his company was fortunate in that it was very diversified throughout western Canada. Weve taken technology and married that with new solutions that a year or two ago werent an issue, he said. And were finding cost savings for these guys. Despite the problems that shale gas has been causing conventional natural gas over the past year, hes optimistic that prices will start to rise in the not too distant future, and that shale gas has its own problems including environmental concerns to deal with. John Hashem of the Box Springs Business Park said he was feeling optimistic too, despite the recession. He pointed out that the park presently had a few-related energy businesses, and that more companies had recently expressed an interest in relocating to the park. Acadia Valley-based I.W. Kuhn Environmental Ltd. said it too was feeling optimistic about the future. Roger Didychuk, vice-president corporate development, explained that his company first started as an agricultural business in 1984 and today has advanced into reclamation work , remediation and construction. Its also a full-service compost company and is involved in 16 feedlots in southern and central Alberta. The diversification, he said has helped stabilize and to grow the company here and in Saskatchewan. Barry Rudd, Mayor of Maple Creek, was also feeling optimistic at the petroleum show. Hes wanting to attract new people and businesses to his town, and finds shows such as this weeks a good opportunity to promote the town as a place to live and work. Lisa Kowalchuk, executive director of the Medicine Hat & District Chamber of Commerce, said she thought the show, overall, was great. The partnership with the oilmen has been phenomenal; our sponsors have been great; and we couldnt do this without our partners and sponsors. |
