As I approach retirement after more than three decades in Canada’s oil and gas industry, I have had the privilege of watching an extraordinary story unfold. It is a story of resourcefulness, engineering excellence, disciplined risk-taking, and a remarkably Canadian ability to take complex challenges and turn them into long-term value.
When I began my career as a Jr. Engineer, the industry looked very different than it does today. The tools were different. The data was different. The technology was different. The conversation around energy was different. But the fundamentals were the same: understand the resource, respect the subsurface, solve difficult problems, and build things that drive lasting value.
From a GLJ perspective, that has always been the heart of the business. GLJ has given me a front-row seat to the evolution of Canada’s energy sector, not just as observer, but as a team of trusted advisors, and problem-solvers working alongside the people and companies that helped build it.
One of the clearest lessons from my career is that Canada’s oil and gas industry did not become world-class by accident. It was built through decades of hard work: seismic programs, drilling campaigns, field development plans, reservoir studies, facility investments, pipeline infrastructure, regulatory evolution, Indigenous and community engagement, environmental performance improvements, capital discipline, and the steady application of technical judgment. It was built by geologists, engineers, operators, land professionals, economists, environmental specialists, field crews, executives, entrepreneurs, regulators, and investors who believed Canada had something important to offer the world. And they were right.
Today, Western Canada stands as one of the most significant energy-producing jurisdictions in the world. Our oil sands, conventional oil, natural gas, liquids-rich plays, and deep technical expertise have created an energy platform that compares in scale and sophistication with any major exporting regions. In 2025, Western Canada’s oil and gas production averaged nearly 6 million barrels of oil and liquids per day along with 19 billion cubic feet per day. This is not a marginal contribution. This is a globally material energy system.
It supports domestic reliability, industrial development, petrochemicals, power generation, LNG opportunities, and the broader evolution to a lower-emissions energy future system. We should never forget that energy is the golden thread that connects economic growth, sustainability, and most importantly, human progress.
It is easy, sometimes, to underestimate what has been built here because so much of it now operates quietly in the background. An enormous amount of infrastructure, technical expertise, and institutional knowledge supports the industry every day. These are not abstract concepts. They form the foundation of a thriving energy industry.
Much of what Canada can do today is possible because previous generations had the courage and foresight to invest, test, fail, improve, and build again. The industry that emerged from the 1970s and 1980s was not perfect, and no serious person would claim it was. But it was ambitious. It was technically curious. It was deeply practical. It solved one problem after another, often under harsh conditions, volatile markets, shifting policy environments, and significant uncertainty. That ingenuity is still visible today.
Canada’s energy industry has become far more than a producer of oil and gas. It is an engine of technical capability. It has developed expertise across production, subsurface evaluation, emissions management, infrastructure optimization, and emerging energy technologies. These capabilities are not just employed in Canada, as we have made this expertise employable around the world.
One of the things I wish more people understood is that Canada’s energy sector is not a legacy industry sitting still. It is a modern technical industry that continues to evolve. It is applying new tools to old reservoirs, new thinking to established infrastructure, and new environmental expectations to long-life assets. The industry has learned, adapted, and improved, and it continues to do so.
At GLJ, we see this through the lens of the resource. Every asset has a story, but that story has to be understood properly. What is in the ground? What can be recovered? Under what conditions? At what cost? With what risk? Under what commercial, regulatory, environmental, and market assumptions? Those questions have been central to our work for decades, and they remain just as important today.
Good energy decisions require good technical foundations. Whether the question is reserves, resources, development planning, asset valuation, emissions management, carbon storage, or long-term strategy, the answer begins with disciplined technical work. Engineering judgment matters. Independent analysis matters. Understanding uncertainty matters. And in a world that needs secure, affordable, and responsibly produced energy, that work matters more than ever.
Over my career, I have seen the work evolve from paper files, hand-drawn maps, basic decline analysis, and limited computing power to integrated subsurface models, advanced analytics, digital dashboards, emissions measurement, probabilistic forecasting, and increasingly sophisticated approaches to risk. The industry has become more data-driven, more transparent, more technically integrated, and more accountable. It is still grounded in geology, engineering, economics, and judgment, but the way we bring those disciplines together has changed profoundly.
Canada has significant room to grow, through a combination of growing our resource production, and by producing smarter, moving more strategically, and using the infrastructure and expertise already in place. The opportunity is not only in the resource base, although that remains enormous. The opportunity is also in our people, our technical credibility, our regulatory experience, our proximity to key markets, and our ability to integrate energy development with environmental performance.
We should be proud of what has been built. We should also be honest that the next chapter will still depend on strong infrastructure, competitive markets, policy clarity, public confidence, and above all, technical excellence.
For me, GLJ has been much more than just a workplace. It has been the place where I learned from exceptional people, worked through difficult technical questions, and watched young professionals grow into leaders. I have had the opportunity to contribute to decisions that mattered to clients, communities, and the broader Canadian energy system.
Canada’s energy future is not behind us; it is still being engineered. Now, more than ever, we need to keep building to create energy prosperity for generations to follow. The foundation built over the past several decades is remarkable, but I believe the opportunity ahead is just as significant. We have the resource. We have the infrastructure. We have the technical capability. Most importantly, we have the people.
I leave this industry proud to have been part of the work, and with a deep respect for the people who continue to move it forward.
