FORT ST. JOHN, British Columbia – An anonymous donation of $6 million has bumped up the timeline on plans to install a working drilling rig at the Fort St. John campus of Northern Lights College (NLC).
“It’s always been part of the 10 year plan,” said a college spokesperson after NLC vice president of finance appeared before the Fort St. John council to discuss the college’s plans. Because of the donation, it can now happen a lot sooner.
The Oil and Gas Centre of Excellence/Jim Kassen Industry Training Centre that will incorporate the rig was opened on the Fort St. John campus mid October, 2008. It was intended to compliment NLC’s other trades training and to be the college’s oil and gas training hub for the Northeast. The addition of a working rig would bring that project one step closer to achieving that goal.
“It’s great to see the hard work the college has invested into this training facility be rewarded with this donation,” said Fort St. John Mayor Bruce Lantz.
“Now students can get real life, real time training that will further their careers in our thriving oil and gas centre.”
Lantz noted that although the rig might be located in Fort St. John, in keeping with the intention for the training centre, the donation would provide benefits that would ripple throughout the whole region.
While the move may be good for industry, NLC’s spokesperson indicated that as yet there is no concrete timeframe for installation of the rig. Before that decision is made, the college wants to move forward with public consultations to ensure any concerns regarding the new addition are dealt with.
In light of recent residential developments in proximity to the training centre, NLC’s spokesperson stressed the institution’s desire to be a good neighbour was a priority.
As yet, no indication in being made as to the source of the donation

Dawson Creek, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The first projects of a multiyear plan to upgrade Peace River Roads are on the drawing board. Seven projects that will move the region one step closer to seeing major improvements to Highway 97 North from Fort St. John through Dawson Creek and along Highway 2 to the Alberta border were announced July 25.
“Our petroleum and natural gas sector has shown tremendous growth in the last few years. With this upgraded infrastructure in place, we can better accommodate industry traffic and ensure British Columbians have safe access to our energy hub,” said Minister of Energy and Mines Rich Coleman.
This is not a sudden decision explained Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom. It’s something that has been years in the making and will take many more years to complete.
While there is a strong motivation to make roads industry friendly, the decision was made to ensure driver safety and build capacity on roads that have seen rapidly increasing use over a number of years.
“The decision to do this was not just based on industry and the movement of industry traffic up here but for the families that live here,” said Lekstrom. “We think the traffic flow has increase to such a degree that it warrants the twinning of this road.”
While he admits that the plan will cause road delays for years, he freely said that some delays are a small price to pay in light of how hard people have worked to make this happen.
Seven initial projects have been identified and are in varying stages of engineering and design. While no date has been set for completing these projects and those that will follow, this year the province is investing almost $4 million to prepare for construction.
“Rather than start at one end and finish at the other, I thought it was more appropriate, like many of the projects you look at, to try and piece them together so we can recognize the benefits between start and finish as well,” said Lekstrom.
This year, the projects under development are widen to four lanes (3.3 kilometres) from Tupper Creek to Rusheinski Road, widen Tupper Creek Bridge and 4-Mile Culvert to four lanes, widen to four lanes (1.8 kilometres) from 1 Street to 8 Street in Dawson Creek, widen to four lanes (3 kilometres) from Rolla Road to 1 Street, Blockline southbound passing lane and intersection improvements, widen to four lanes (2 kilometres) at the bottom of the South Taylor Hill and construct northbound passing lane at Farmington Fairways.
“We have money that is being expended as we speak on engineering and design for the seven projects and based on how complete we get those projects, we will be tendering those next year, or some of them depending on where we’re at, and we’ll see shovels in the ground starting this work,” said Lekstrom.

DAWSON CREEK, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Local contractor Brocor Construction Ltd. has been awarded an $8.5-million contract for the Braden Road Phase 3 project.
“Braden Road is one of the most-travelled in our region. The improvements we’re doing here will help improve travel and safety for local residents and support increased industry investment and activity,” said Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom.
“It’s great to see local companies compete and succeed in bidding for these major provincial construction contracts. This contract will have a great economic spin-off for our community and help create and maintain local employment for local families.”
This will complete the reconstruction of the entire length of Braden Road between Highway 97 North and Highway 97 South. Braden Road will be widened, strengthened and seal-coated for a distance of 14 kilometres, from 218 Road to Highway 97 South. This contract also includes new lighting at the intersection of John Hart Highway 97, improvements to the intersections of Braden Road at 212, 214 and 216 Roads, and improvement to the drainage on the approaches to Barringham Bridge.
Work will begin this summer and take approximately a year to complete. The Braden Road Phase 3 project is funded through the province’s Oil and Gas Rural Road Improvement Program (OGRRIP). Of the $54 million invested in the South Peace this year, $19 million is funded through OGRRIP.
“The Oil and Gas Rural Road Improvement Program generates significant new money for the province by improving roads and extending the drilling season year round. Thanks in part to this initiative, we’ve seen a big improvement to our Northeast public roads in the form of wider roads, better intersections and improved traffic management,” said Minister of Energy and Mines Rich Coleman.

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – More than a quarter million British Columbians participated in 11 HST telephone-town hall meetings in communities across the province.
“Participation in the talking-taxes tele-town halls has far exceeded our initial expectations.” said Minister of Finance Kevin Falcon.
Of the 417,464 British Columbians who answered the tele-town hall calls – 66 per cent – or 276,504 people, participated in the calls and stayed on the phone for almost 17 minutes on average. The tele-town halls were hosted by Minister of Finance Kevin Falcon, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Blair Lekstrom and Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Pat Bell.
Several communities and regions had very high participation rates: 76 per cent in the Fraser Valley and suburban Vancouver, 74 per cent in Vancouver and 69 per cent in the Okanagan.
The feedback received from these calls will be evaluated to help inform HST policy improvements, as government looks closely at the options to improve the HST and the consequences of a return to the PST and GST system.
The BC government announced the Talking Taxes public engagement process to expand the dialogue with British Columbians on how to improve the HST in the lead-up to this summer’s referendum.
British Columbians will be voting in a mail-in referendum on the HST. Ballots will be mailed in June and must be returned to Elections BC or a Service BC office by 4:30 p.m. on July 22, 2011.

CALGARY, ALBERTA – Equal Energy Ltd. has completed the previously announced bought deal financing of common shares for gross proceeds of $50,347,500 (net proceeds approximately $47.8 million).  The net proceeds of the financing are expected to be used to finance a portion of the company’s acquisition of Petroflow’s interests in assets developed pursuant to the now terminated farmout agreement in Oklahoma which was announced on April 26.  The acquisition is expected to close on June 1, 2011.  The issue was sold by a syndicate of underwriters, led by Scotia Capital Inc. and including CIBC World Markets Inc., Wellington West Capital Markets Inc., Desjardins Securities Inc., Jennings Capital Inc. and PI Financial Corp.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Premier Christy Clark announced $870,000 in provincial funding for the development of the world’s first small-scale hydrogen liquefaction plant to be built in North Vancouver.
“Innovation like this by BC companies shows why the province is and will remain a world-centre for hydrogen and fuel cell technology,” said Clark.
“We will continue to champion made-in-BC hydrogen, electricity, and natural gas as clean, green fuels of the future for BC families.”
BC-based Hydrogen Technology & Energy Corporation (HTEC), and Sacré-Davey Engineering, along with international partner Air Liquide, are building this innovative, high-tech plant. They will use local by-product hydrogen to produce low-carbon liquefied hydrogen to power hydrogen fuel cell buses and vehicles throughout the Pacific Northwest. The plant should start producing clean, green hydrogen in about 18 months.
This plant will help fuel the Green Highway that will power hydrogen, electric, biofuel and natural gas vehicles from BC to California.

SMITHERS, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The best of BC’s responsible and sustainable mining industry were honoured with the 2010 Mining and Sustainability Awards.
Presented by the Mining Association of BC and the Province, the winners for 2010 are Northgate Minerals’ Kemess South Mine and the Northwest Community College’s school of exploration and mining (SEM).
“BC’s mining industry is recognized as a world leader in environmental protection and the winners of this award are strong examples of our excellence. My congratulations and thanks to Northgate Minerals’ Kemess South Mine and the North West Community College school of exploration and mining for their diligence in ensuring the sustainable development of our natural resources,” said Rich Coleman, Minister of Energy and Mines.
The annual sustainability award recognizes the best the BC mining industry has to offer in responsible mining practices and is designed to encourage continuous improvement in key aspects of the industry that are important to all BC residents.
This award was first given in 2005 and recognizes the diverse companies, communities, First Nations, non-governmental organizations, government agencies and individuals committed to advancing and promoting sustainable development in the BC mining sector.

CALGARY, ALBERTA – Enform, the safety association for Canada’s upstream oil and gas industry, passed the 5.5 million mark of Safety Alert deliveries to industry this March.
Enform issues Safety Alerts and information bulletins to inform the industry of injuries and incidents in the Canadian oil and gas industry. A Safety Alert can be issued about:
• Injuries, fatalities, motor vehicle incidents, near hits/misses, or other losses
• Faulty equipment
• Regulatory information
“The distribution of Safety Alerts is a positive method of alerting the industry to incidents that have occurred,” said Lloyd Harman, Enform’s vice president of operations. “The information from every Safety Alert should be used by industry so it does not happen again.”
Enform works collaboratively with the organization submitting details of incident or injury to develop Safety Alerts in order to improve the industry’s awareness of hazards and understanding of controls. Canada’s leading oil and gas industry trade associations support the use of shared information to help companies of all sizes improve performance.
“Collaboration is a key strategy to reduce injuries, improve efficiencies, and promote positive working relationships,” said Harman. “By working together and sharing information with industry, we will continue to achieve injury and loss reduction.”
Enform is the upstream oil and gas industry’s advocate and leading resource for the continuous improvement of safety performance. Our mission is to help companies achieve their safety goals by providing practices, assessment, training, support, metrics and communication. Our vision is no work-related incidents or injuries in the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry.
For more information, visit www.enform.ca.

VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The province put up to $120 million in royalty credits on the table mid February to spark the next round of infrastructure development in BC’s petroleum and natural gas sector.
Starting Feb. 17, a new instalment of the Ministry of Energy’s successful Infrastructure Royalty Credit Program began accepting applications from companies who want to invest in new or upgraded roads and new pipelines that generate economic development and job creation.
“The government’s royalty credit programs are a major force in the growth and success of BC’s natural gas sector,” said David Pryce, vice-president, operations for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. “It’s a very competitive industry and it’s innovations like the Infrastructure Royalty Credit Program that help keep industry investment focused on BC.”
Industry must fund the entire cost of the selected infrastructure projects. The companies can then recover up to 50 per cent of an approved project’s costs through credits that reduce the natural resource royalties they must remit to government.
The resulting infrastructure improves access to underdeveloped areas and supports year-round exploration and production activities. This generates more jobs and business opportunities than would otherwise occur and promotes the competitiveness of BC’s natural gas sector.
As in previous years, only projects which offer the highest economic benefits for British Columbia will be approved. Applications are accepted until April 14, 2011 at 2 p.m. PDT. The request for applications information can be found at: http://www.empr.gov.bc.ca/OG/oilandgas/royalties/infdevcredit/Pages/default.aspx

VICTORIA , BRITISH COLUMBIA– The government of British Columbia has appointed a panel of senior officials to review BC Hydro and develop options to reduce the impact of hydro rate increases on BC families.
“Our government’s priorities are to create jobs, build our economy, and support families,” said Energy and Mines Minister Rich Coleman. “Our goal is to find the right balance between investing in our hydro system, while keeping rates as low as possible for BC families – and this review will help us do just that.”
The panel will conduct an examination of BC Hydro’s financial performance, including operating and capital requirements, reliability of forecasting systems, administrative expenses, procurement processes, cost-containment strategies and opportunities for savings. The panel will also consider rate structures, corporate structures and business planning. The panel members are also free to examine any other matters that may arise over the course of the review.
The objective of the review is to provide recommendations and options to ensure costs are minimized and benefits to BC families and BC Hydro customers are maximized. The panel will report back to the Premier and Minister of Energy and Mines by the end of June 2011.
“I have every confidence this will be a very thorough review and I look forward to receiving the report,” said Coleman. “I’m sure it will lead to some frank discussions about the challenges, solutions and opportunities ahead.”
Ultimately, the recommendations will inform an amended BC Hydro rate application to the BC Utilities Commission (BCUC). Any amendments to the rate application will be assessed and approved by the BCUC through its open public hearing process.
Following completion of the review, a final report containing recommendations will be made public. The panel may also recommend specific areas or topics for the government to review in greater depth.