CAPP recognizes industry leadership and launches new Responsible Canadian
Energy program

CALGARY, March 16 /CNW/ - More than 450 oil and gas industry executives and stakeholders last night recognized industry leadership in environmental, social and safety performance at the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers' (CAPP) annual Stewardship Awards. In addition to recognizing individual company performance, CAPP announced the evolution of the Stewardship Program to "Responsible Canadian Energy". This new program is intended to reinforce industry's commitment to responsible development and continuous improvement.

"The oil and gas industry's reputation is based on performance and how we communicate with our stakeholders. Having a strong industry-wide focus on demonstrating performance is essential to ensure we are meeting the evolving expectations of Canadians and stakeholders globally," said David Collyer, CAPP's President.

"The Canadian industry is improving environmental, social and safety performance and we need to recognize leading performance as it happens, reinforcing an overarching culture of continuous improvement."

Established in 1999, CAPP's Stewardship Program recognizes industry performance in environmental, social and safety performance. This year, 31 projects were submitted for consideration by an independent panel of judges. President of Enform, Wally Baer; President Emeritus Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dr. Arthur May; Former Alberta Natural Resources Conservation Board Chairman, Gerry DeSorcy; and Executive Director Emeritus of Pollution Probe, Ken Ogilvie adjudicated this year's awards.

The CAPP 2010 Stewardship Award of Excellent recipients are:

Health & Safety Performance - ConocoPhillips - Advanced Safety Auditing (ASA)

In early 2009, ConocoPhilips Canada initiated a program to improve safety performance. At year-end the company's Western Canada Gas Drilling Team achieved significant objectives including a 61 per cent reduction in its Total Recordable Injury Rate.

The program, developed by safety management expert, Dr. Bruce Staley, is based on active leadership in the workplace and reinforcing expected behaviours. Program initiatives included training frontline leaders on having "high impact" safety conversation with their team, enhancing the role of field safety coaches, and demonstrating leadership support through training session videos.

Environmental Performance - Devon Canada, Minimal Environmental Disturbance Techniques

Devon has minimized environmental disturbance by reducing the width of access roads in forested areas by as much as 50 per cent. Waste wood is then turned into mulch and used for road construction instead of being burned. The technique was developed to reduce the permanent environmental impact of traditional roads. Construction and reclamation costs are also reduced. Once the road is no longer required, the mulch is collected and reused on another project.

Social Performance - Horn River Basin Producers Group - Collaborating for Success

The Horn River Basin Producers Group has been created as a joint initiative to responsibly develop a shale gas play in British Columbia. The group involves 11 companies that collaborate to facilitate open communication in the region by collectively understanding stakeholder and First Nation concerns, minimizing environmental impacts, and maximizing benefits to the region.

Through education and awareness, the group has helped to support economic development and employment in the area. Consultation on proposed operation will ensure development is done in a responsible and timely manner.

The Horn River Producers Group consists of Suncor Energy, Stone Mountain Resources, ConocoPhillips Canada, Imperial Oil, EnCana, Devon, Quicksilver Resources, Pengrowth, Nexen and EOG Resources.

President's Award - BP Canada, Noel Project: Responsible Resource Development

BP Canada Energy has significantly reduced the environmental impacts of a project in the Noel area of British Columbia. The project's reductions can be broken down into two categories: carbon and ecological. Carbon reductions involved a near-zero emissions well site design using solar energy and electrifying compressors where 84 per cent of the power is hydro-generated. Ecological reduction included reducing the number of wells and pipelines, drilling multiple wells on a single lease site, and use of a water storage system collecting spring run-off and drawing from underground aquifers.

"This year's Stewardship Awards recipients exemplify the responsibility and innovation Canada's oil and gas industry wants to be known for," Collyer said. "Collectively CAPP members deliver economic growth, mitigate environmental impacts and provide secure and reliable energy to customers across North America."

Building on the success of CAPP's Stewardship Program, Responsible Canadian Energy(TM) establishes for CAPP members a forward-looking framework for continuous performance improvement and a foundation for communication about industry's performance.

More information on CAPP's Stewardship Program, its 2009 Stewardship Report and Responsible Canadian Energy, can be found online at www.capp.ca.

CAPP represents companies, large and small, that explore for, develop and produce natural gas and crude oil throughout Canada. CAPP's member companies produce about 90 per cent of Canada's natural gas and crude oil. CAPP's associate members provide a wide range of services that support the upstream crude oil and natural gas industry. Together CAPP's members and associate members are an important part of a $110-billion-a-year national industry that provides essential energy products.

For further information: Travis Davies, Media Relations, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, (P): [phone], (M): [phone], (E): [email protected]