Pan Canadian Petroleum Limited held two open houses for residents of the Elk Point King George and Heinsburg areas last week to report on the company’s activities during the past year and their plans for 1994. Area Superintendent Bryan Campbell said Pan Canadian has just completed their capital program for 1993, which included drilling 75 additional wells and upgrading their plant to double its previous capacity. The plant is now much more efficient, and upgraded scales have significantly decreased the turnaround time for trucks hauling product to and from the plant.
Their recent fall safety awareness program, which focused on general safety practices, is “just part of being good neighbors” with the community, Campbell said. Safety courses are important to the company, which prides itself on its safety record.
A significant amount of road surfacing has been done, some with the usual sand and slop oil mixture, and some with the new blended product cold mix. Maps showing the area where these products have been installed, and also environmental studies of the products, were on display at the open houses.
Maps showing the routes used by Pan Canadian’s own and contract vehicles were also on display, as were a number of geological samples. Production Manager Dennis Chorney explained Pan Canadian’s 1994 business plan. Pan Canadian is a very large mineral rights land holder, and focuses on four lines of business: natural gas, conventional oil, liquids such as propane, and heavy oil. The area between Elk Point and Provost is the centre of their heavy oil activity, and is responsible for half of their production.
The company’s efforts to become more active have led them to be a more prominent operator in heavy oil. Rapid growth has taken place, with production volumes more than doubling to over 100,000 barrels per day, during the past 2' years. The biggest part of that growth, Chorney said, is in the Elk Point to Provost area.
A considerable amount of earthwork is being done in the Frog Lake area at the present time, and a total of 120 new wells are in the 1994 drilling program. Chorney said it will take $30 million worth of activity to ready those wells for production. “We intend to continue with this pace for some time,” Chorney said, “as long as oil prices cooperate.” This news pleased service company personnel in the audience, as did the information that Pan Canadian will accept tenders from other operators not currently in the company’s employ. Apparently some companies were missed in last year’s tendering process, when the company was caught unprepared for the increasing level of activity.
And yes, Pan Canadian employees do believe in the company, to the extent that they buy shares of its stock. Spokesman John O’Donnell said he expects the company to continue to do well. “I have shares, everyone at this table has shares.” Bryan Campbell added that employees can now buy shares through a payroll plan, which makes being a stakeholder much simpler. Elk Point Mayor Ed Buck was among those attending the King George meeting, and complimented Pan Canadian on being good corporate citizens whom he looks forward to working with in the future.
