OUR OFFICES ARE CLOSED, BUT OUR OPERATIONS CONTINUE

At PETRONAS Canada, the health and safety of our employees and contractors and the local and First Nations communities where we operate are our top priority. We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation closely and are taking proactive measures that align with the direction from provincial and federal governments and health authorities, and are aimed at limiting the spread of the virus.

At this time we are continuing with our 2020 capital activity, however, we are doing so with an abundance of caution across each operation.

MEASURES WE HAVE TAKEN ACROSS OUR COMPANY

• Activated our crisis management, pandemic response and business continuity plans.
  • The teams formed under these plans meet regularly to assess workplace conditions alongside the latest information and guidance from authorities, and adjust our operating protocols as required to manage worker safety and business continuity
• Directed all PETRONAS employees and contractors to follow social distancing recommendations and conduct meetings as much as possible over the phone rather than in person
• Directed our office staff in both Calgary and Fort St. John to work from home; both offices closed on March 23 until further notice
• Banned business travel, except for business-critical purposes within Canada
• Continued reinforcement of the federal and provincial governments’ directives to stay at home as much as possible
• Provided our staff with the time they need to adjust to school and daycare closures

MEASURES AT OUR CAMPS AND FIELD LOCATIONS IN B.C.

• Suspended all non-critical work at our field locations
• Increased the use of charter flights and passenger vehicles to further minimize exposure to others
• Established camp response guidelines and procedures for employees and third-party contractors to protect our staff and the community. Aligned with the B.C. Ministry of Health Guidelines for Industrial Camps, these minimum standards focus on prevention, response and assurance:
  • Strict procedures to minimize contact with others including transport to and from the home towns of our staff
  • Increased cleaning and disinfecting measures
  • Mandatory health screening for all workers before each shift
  • Providing onsite medics at each camp, who evaluate health screening questionnaires and perform temperature checks prior to camp check-in among other duties. Medics will also provide support for case management if required.
  • Use of the HealthLinkBC self-assessment tool if symptoms are present to determine if further testing, self-isolation (at camp or at home) under the HealthLinkBC self-isolation guidelines, or emergency transportation to a hospital by air ambulance is required
• Redeployed staff and added additional resources to ensure these guidelines and procedures are followed by every camp we are using, and to assess whether the multiple distancing, cleaning and health assessment measures in place meet the intent of the requirements
• Requirement of contractors and vendors to assess the health of their staff and have a plan to immediately isolate workers from others, including the community, if they have symptoms

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, charitable organizations have been deeply impacted.

This year, given the immediate, rising community needs, we donated $50,000, each, to the United Way of Northern BC and to the United Way of Calgary and Area to support their COVID-19 relief and response activities.

To support critical, life-saving work, we donated $20,000 to the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation and also provided the funds needed to professionally outfit nurses with personal protective equipment, such as masks and face shields, through Brogan Safety Supply, a local company.

In addition to medical concerns, many in the community are finding it difficult to put food on the table. As a result, we looked for ways to enable communities to focus on staying home and staying healthy. To the Calgary Food Bank, we provided $10,000 for items they feel are most needed. To the Silver Willows Court seniors’ residence in Hudson Hope, we provided funds to build a planter where residents can get outdoors and grow vegetables. To Abbeyfield seniors’ residence in Fort St. John we provided funds to buy meat from a local butcher. To Fort St. John’s Better at Home program, we covered the cost of 400 hot meals for seniors prepared by a local catering company.

As the COVID-19 situation evolves, we will continue to work with our community partners – which includes consulting with the First Nations communities closest to our operations – to identify what meaningful support they may need to lessen the negative effects of this pandemic.

With the British Columbia hydro power grid more than 100 kilometres from where we explore for and produce natural gas, generating the electricity we need, day and night, at our well pads across northeastern B.C. and minimizing emissions can be a challenge.

We’re always exploring ways to adapt our existing practices to lessen our impact on air, land, water and wildlife. Over the past decade, we’ve made substantial strides to reduce the carbon footprint at our well pads – the most significant of which has been integrating the use of solar panels to offset some of our power needs.

While we’ve had great success harnessing energy from the sun, we haven’t been able to generate enough electricity from solar panels alone to run all of our equipment at isolated and remote locations. For these sites, the best option to drive pneumatic instruments and pumps was to use natural gas we produce on-site.

Although pressurized natural gas has enabled safe and reliable operation of pneumatic devices at remote well sites for decades, the natural gas used by the pneumatic system is primarily methane and is vented to the atmosphere. Pneumatic venting is responsible for almost 50 percent of our methane emissions and seven percent of our overall greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint (on a CO₂ equivalent basis).

In our quest to achieve meaningful reductions in GHG emissions we accelerated the development of technology that eliminates pneumatic venting. Our engineering team worked closely with a Canadian technology company to install and test a 20-kilowatt power generation and air compression system at remote well sites.

The system is beneficial in two ways: first, it prioritizes solar power over natural gas generators to compress instrument air (in place of methane) to drive pneumatic devices; and second, when there are periods of insufficient solar energy, our natural gas generator takes over to ensure an uninterrupted power for the entire well site. Now, emissions only occur for short durations during the winter when the generator needs to supplement the power at site.

With testing complete, we are incorporating this new power system into all of our new well pad designs. By doing so, we expect to prevent approximately 1,600 tonnes of CO₂e per pad per year, which represents 99 percent of all GHG emissions from our traditional well pad, from entering the atmosphere – that’s roughly equal to the emissions produced by 350 gasoline-powered cars.

This new system allows us to tackle our largest methane emissions source and achieve meaningful GHG emission reductions. Over the next few years, we will investigate opportunities to retrofit existing well pads with this new power system as a way to further reduce our GHG footprint.

We believe that we can accelerate finding solutions to the environmental challenges we face as an industry when we commit to working together, which is why we are sharing learnings like this with other producers in forums such as the Natural Gas Innovation Fund.

Operating a natural gas processing plant requires a considerable amount of power – much more power than we’ve been able to harness from the sun using solar panels or fuel cell technology.

As part of our commitment to responsible development, the bright minds of our scientific and mechanical staff designed a solution that not only meets the power needs of our phased growth in the Town Area, but also uses technology that reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions from our typical plant design.

An easy solution would have been to connect to the British Columbia power grid since the vast majority of the province’s power is created using hydroelectric generation but, given that it’s more than 100 kilometres away from our operations, that’s not possible at this time. The option that made the most sense economically and helps us achieve the lowest carbon footprint, was to build a co-generation plant, on site.

A co-generation power plant produces electricity using natural gas turbines, while simultaneously capturing and repurposing the waste heat from the turbine’s exhaust. The exhaust heat recovery modules redirect the residual heat to the heating needs of the facility without the need to install additional natural gas-fired boiler equipment. The net effect is that we burn less natural gas then we typically would to create the same amount of energy.

We anticipate this new design, with a total of three turbines, will generate between 33 and 38 megawatts when it’s fully operational (enough power for 3,800 homes) and represents an emissions reduction of approximately 30 percent over our typical plant design.

From February 20-23, more than 1,000 athletes, 1,800 volunteers, numerous local businesses, and local First Nation representatives came together to participate in the BC Winter Games – hosted for the first time in 35 years in Fort St. John.

PETRONAS salutes everyone involved in this tremendous show of skill and sportsmanship.

Extreme cold, heavy rainfall and heavy equipment take a real toll on the vast network of roads that lead to our facilities in northeast British Columbia. Keeping these unpaved roads free of axel-breaking potholes and snow is a year-round activity.

As part of an ongoing effort to support local First Nation businesses, PETRONAS has signed road maintenance agreements with two First Nation businesses, with the second one happening in late 2019 with Tall Ten Resources Ltd. By providing road maintenance work guarantees, these companies are able to borrow the capital needed to buy a grader.

The idea for this kind of agreement came from our Road Maintenance team. It creates steady, year-round work that’s critical to the safety of our operators, who travel thousands of kilometres across our operations each year. Another advantage, is that this network of roads is divided into areas that create natural boundaries, which means we can more easily have multiple companies doing our road maintenance work.

October, 2019: Celebrating Tall Ten’s new grader, from left: Jennifer Roe from PETRONAS; Ron Apsassin, Jason Steiner, and Guy Sabourin from Tall Ten; and Liz Hannah, Nicole Deyell, Del James, Lloyd Hayden also from PETRONAS.

August, 2018: Celebrating Top Notch Oilfield Contracting Ltd.’s new grader, from left: PETRONAS' Jennifer Roe; owners of Top Notch, Boomer Desjarlais & Judy Desjarlais; and PETRONAS' Lloyd Hayden. Top Notch’s experience working with us has paved the way for them to successfully pick up additional road maintenance work with other companies in the area.

Nothing quite beats the feeling of seeing young people connect with and learn valuable life lessons from their idols.

In 2018 we began a five-year commitment to provide mentorship opportunities to almost 500 students in Fort St. John and the surrounding area when we partnered with Classroom Champions, an international organization that connects world-class athletes with classrooms of students eager to learn through interactive activities led by inspiring role models. The athlete mentors inspire students in various grades and schools through monthly video lessons, live video chats and in-class visits, and help build skills in perseverance, effective goal setting, and positive leadership and in embracing diversity. We have grown our participation over the past two years from five classes to 15 in Fort St. John and an additional two classes in Hudson’s Hope.

Building on the success of the Classroom Champions program, we are thrilled to sponsor an entire school in Fort St. John and start our support of the program in Hudson’s Hope in the 2019-2020 school year. We are especially pleased to continue our association with athlete mentors Alysia Rissling and Mirela Rahneva.

Contributing to the communities where we live and work is an important part of giving back at PETRONAS Canada. Our staff members have a strong volunteer spirit, getting involved in a variety of ways from delivering hampers to First Nation elders, to serving supper to seniors in Fort St. John, picking up garbage, judging science fair submissions, and even planting vegetables

Melanie Vogel and her canine companion, Malo, on their trek across Canada.

Photo courtesy of Melanie Vogel

When some of our operators spotted Melanie Vogel’s temporary camp near one of our work sites in early December, they stopped by to check on her to ensure she was okay given the plummeting temperatures.

The avid hiker from Germany took up their offer of food and shelter at one of our nearby camps. While Melanie and her dog, Malo, rested up and waited out the worst of the weather, our staff repaired a wheel on Melanie’s wagon, provided her with glove warmers and a tire patch kit for her wagon in case of further tire trouble, and new dog boots for Malo.

You may have heard of Melanie and Malo – they’ve been walking across Canada along the Great Trail (formerly known as the Trans Canada Trail) since June of 2017. We wish them both all the very best in their trek as well as successful arrivals in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories and Victoria, BC, which mark the destination points of her ocean to ocean to ocean adventure that began in Cape Speare, Newfoundland. The Great Trail runs about 24,000 kilometres across Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.

Since 2017, we have partnered with the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary to host the annual PETRONAS International Energy Speaker Series, where world-renowned energy experts are invited to discuss key issues facing the global energy landscape. “This partnership is a great fit for us,” says Mark Fitzgerald, CEO of PETRONAS Canada. “We’re a company that values diversity of thought and believes it makes a business stronger. We’re thrilled at the caliber of speakers we’ve been able to attract. They truly are world class.”

Hosted as a luncheon, the event attracts approximately 600 business leaders from the Calgary community and includes MBA students from the Haskayne School of Business.

NOVEMBER 26, 2019: MARIA VAN DER HOEVEN

Retired Dutch politician and former Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, Maria van der Hoeven, spoke to a sell-out crowd. She has repeatedly emphasized the close link between climate and energy policy and has initiated discussions between policy makers and industry representatives on the impact of climate change on energy security. Maria gave a thought-provoking presentation on the current state of global natural gas markets and the future of Canada’s LNG on the world stage.

NOVEMBER 6, 2018: HARRY TCHILINGUIRIAN

Harry Tchilinguirian, Global Head of Commodity Markets Strategy and Senior Oil Market Strategist at BNP Paribas, one of the world’s largest banks, spoke as a recognized authority on the state of oil and energy commodity markets and a frequent commentator on Bloomberg and CNBC. Harry provided his assessment of geopolitical climates and international markets, where they are now and where they’re headed.

OCTOBER 5, 2017: ERNEST MONIZ

The first year of the series featured inaugural speaker Ernest Moniz, former U.S. President Barack Obama’s Secretary of Energy. Ernest provided a provocative and thoughtful look at energy security, climate change and the need for innovation in the energy industry.

In the fall of 2019, Mike Culbert received the Distinguished Business Leader Award from the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business and the Calgary Chamber of Commerce for his 35 years of ethical leadership. The award recognizes individuals for their outstanding personal and professional achievements, commitment to the community and business acumen.

For us, Mike’s most notable accomplishment in his long and distinguished career is his role as one of three founding partners of Progress Energy, our predecessor company, and his long-term leadership from 2004 to 2016 as President & CEO of our company. Afterward he served as Vice Chairman of the Board until March 31, 2020. Congratulations, Mike!

• More information on Mike’s career and personal story can be found here.

Adif Zulkifli is the Executive Vice President & CEO of PETRONAS’ Upstream Business. Leading up to his appointment, he was the Executive Vice President & CEO of the Gas & New Energy Business, where he was responsible for the company’s Midstream Gas Assets, LNG Marketing and New Energy.

Having joined PETRONAS in 1993 as a reservoir engineer, Adif has worked in various areas in the company including reservoir engineering, strategic planning, business development and petroleum economics. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

He has also previously held the role as the Senior Vice President of Development & Production, Upstream Business overseeing Upstream development projects and operations worldwide. Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy, responsible for shaping and steering PETRONAS’ long term strategic direction, including leading Mergers & Acquisitions, change management and strategic industry research.

Don is an independent Calgary businessman who also serves as the Chairman of Cequence Energy Ltd., and Panorama Mountain Village Inc. Previously, Mr. Archibald held a variety of senior roles with Cyries Energy Ltd., including Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and was the President and Chief Executive Officer of both Cequel Energy Ltd. and Cypress Energy Inc. Mr. Archibald has extensive knowledge and experience as a leader in the public oil and gas industry and financial services. Mr. Archibald also serves on the Board of Directors of Serafina Energy Ltd., Spartan Energy Corp., Chinook Energy Inc., Sea NG Corp., WinSport and Palisade Capital Corp. Mr. Archibald holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario and a Bachelor of Commerce degree (with distinction) from the University of Alberta.

Mark was appointed President and CEO in November 2016. Previously, he held the role of Senior Vice President, Production & Development. He has more than 29 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and has held senior executive roles in production, development, operations, strategy and corporate development. His background includes time with large, integrated producers across North America as well as the junior oil and gas sector in western Canada. Mark is the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and is on the Board of Directors at the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS). He is also a founding Board member for Classroom Champions, and previously sat on the Board for the Edge School Foundation, a unique learning community where students can pursue academic excellence while striving to reach their full athletic potential.

Tn Hj Zakaria Kasah is the Vice President of LNG Assets, Gas & New Energy Business at PETRONAS. With over 30 years of experience with the company, Zakaria Kasah has held many senior leadership positions, including VP of Group Project Delivery, VP of Technology & Engineering and VP/CEO of Malaysia LNG. He is currently the chairman of various boards in several of PETRONAS’ subsidiaries, such as Dubai, Australia and Egypt, among others, and is a recognized leader in HSE management. In addition to his expertise in the area of LNG, Zakaria Kasah has served as a board member for the Student Development Advisory Council for University Technology PETRONAS. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University and has completed the Leadership Management program at Henley Business School in the UK.

Chris is currently Vice-Chairman and Director for ARC Financial Corp. where he provides support for the investment team in the areas of strategy and risk management, as well as investment decision-making. He has over 30 years of operating experience in the Canadian upstream oil and gas industry. Mr. Seasons retired from Devon Canada Corp. in June of 2014 where he served as President for over ten years. Previously, he held a variety of operational and management roles with Shell Canada Ltd. and Stampeder Exploration. Mr. Seasons also serves on the Board of Directors of Longshore Resources Ltd., ARC Financial Corp., Serafina Energy Ltd., Boulder Energy, Matrix Solutions Inc., Steelhead Petroleum and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation and was previously the Chairman of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and director of the United Way of Calgary and Area. Mr. Seasons has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta.

Mohd Jukris Abdul Wahab is Vice President, International Assets of Upstream at PETRONAS and sits on several Boards of PETRONAS subsidiaries. He joined the company in 1990 as a Reservoir Engineer and was involved in the development of several offshore oil and gas fields in Malaysia. He has held various senior technical, operational and leadership positions internationally, including Senior Manager of Strategic Planning for PETRONAS’ Petroleum Management Unit (PMU), Executive Assistant to the President and Chairman of PETRONAS Sudan. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Malaysia Assets of Upstream. En Jukris holds a BSc in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University.

Biography pending

Mark was appointed President and CEO in November 2016. Previously, he held the role of Senior Vice President, Production & Development. He has more than 29 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and has held senior executive roles in production, development, operations, strategy and corporate development. His background includes time with large, integrated producers across North America as well as the junior oil and gas sector in western Canada. Mark is the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and is on the Board of Directors at the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS). He is also a founding Board member for Classroom Champions, and previously sat on the Board for the Edge School Foundation, a unique learning community where students can pursue academic excellence while striving to reach their full athletic potential.

Kevin joined PETRONAS Canada in 2002. Under his leadership as CFO, Kevin strengthens the alignment between our planning, budgeting, financial modeling and reporting functions. He is also accountable for ensuring the current and long-term financial health of the organization. Prior to his current role, Kevin was Vice President, Finance responsible for PETRONAS Canada’s financial reporting and compliance, financial risk management and treasury functions. In his career before joining the company, Kevin was Senior Manager – Audit at KPMG LLP. Kevin has more than 20 years of experience in both the Canadian oil and gas industry and public practice.

James joined PETRONAS Canada in June 2013. He leads the company’s legal, regulatory, environmental and land departments. In this role, he advises PETRONAS Canada and PETRONAS on a wide variety of corporate, commercial and regulatory matters affecting the company’s operations. Under his leadership, James and his team help the company address the environment, social and governance expectations of our stakeholders. Prior to joining PETRONAS Canada, James worked at Nexen Inc. in progressively senior legal roles in its International and Corporate divisions, and prior to that with a state-owned energy company in the Middle East and a large Canadian law firm. James has over 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.

Nicole joined PETRONAS Canada in September 2017. She leads the exploitation engineering, geoscience, drilling and completions, and mineral land teams. Nicole is accountable for all capital investment activities across the organization, driving improved efficiencies through collaboration and coordination. She is a professional engineer who has held numerous technical and leadership roles in her more than 20 years with BP where, as VP Reservoir Development Regions, she had accountability for the subsurface work across Canada, Egypt, Algeria, Oman, Indonesia and Australia.

Joanne joined PETRONAS Canada in September 2019. She is accountable for delivering high quality, value added and supportive services across all functions, ensuring the company continues to transition to an efficient, highly effective organization. Under her leadership, Joanne heads up the Human Resources, Office Services, Supply Chain and Information Communication Technology functions. In addition, she leads the Indigenous Relations, External Affairs, Government Affairs, Stakeholder and Communication teams.

Joanne previously worked at Goldcorp, where she served as Vice President, Supply Chain, and was responsible for supplier management, process development and supplier risks and procurement. She brings over 20 years of experience in Human Resources with a specialty in compensation and has held progressively senior positions at various global organizations in Canada, the US and Europe in a variety of different industries.

Joe Leonard was appointed Vice President, Production in July 2019. In his role, he leads the production engineering, operations and facilities teams. Previous to his current appointment he was CEO of PETRONAS Australia where he oversaw the company’s interest in the Gladstone LNG project. Joe has been with the company for over 10 years and, prior to his overseas assignment, served as Director of Development. He is a professional engineer with over 19 years of experience and is a demonstrated leader in the exploration, development and production of unconventional natural gas resources.

Azmir joined PETRONAS Canada in March 2020 bringing with him a vast skillset acquired during his 23 years at PETRONAS, including several postings within their worldwide group of companies – expertly leading up operations in Brunei and Ethiopia.

Prior to his move to Canada, Azmir led many functions for PETRONAS from their global headquarters in Malaysia, including three years performing business portfolio analysis within the President’s Office.

The knowledge and experience Azmir acquired from his many career successes in business development, commercial ventures and technical analysis within PETRONAS’ oil and natural gas business make him uniquely qualified to lead the strategy and corporate development portfolio at PETRONAS Canada.

Azmir joined PETRONAS after obtaining a Bachelor of Science (honours) degree in Geology and Applied Geology from the University of Glasgow. During his career, he supplemented his leadership experience by completing two internal bespoke mini-MBA programs in collaboration with Melbourne University and Duke University.