[R-G] The oil sands omerta

[Anthony Fenton]

The oil sands omerta

Norval Scott, March 12, 2008 at 3:58 PM EDT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080312.WBwenergyblog061320080312155811/WBStory/WBwenergyblog0613

According to oil executives speaking at the World Heavy Oil Congress  
in Edmonton this week, a big challenge for the oil sands industry is  
to overcome adverse public perceptions of their work. To a man, the  
Canadian representatives speaking – including the chief executives of  
Suncor Energy Inc. and Nexen Inc. – referred to the need to do better  
in the PR battle, and emphasized that this was a priority.

It’s a fight that the companies aren’t winning, and it’s their own  
fault. While Canadian executives do a good job of showing up at events  
such as the WHOC, they don’t always answer the many questions their  
industry faces.

For example, on Monday The Globe and Mail reported that the federal  
government was about to announce new environmental legislation. Later  
that day, the new rules were released, indicating that all new oil  
sands plants must include carbon capture and storage technology from  
2012 – a major policy shift that appears to make future oil sands  
development more expensive.

Despite the importance of this announcement, there has so far been no  
response from individual companies other than what reporters were able  
to collect at the WHOC – and even then the chief executives present  
largely refused to comment on the proposals, saying they hadn’t seen  
the details. (To be fair, they hadn’t, although they would have been  
able to read the Globe story.) But it is now Wednesday, and presumably  
the companies are now familiar with what the government intends. And  
yet, the only industry response has been from the Canadian Association  
of Petroleum Producers, the umbrella organization. (It said the  
targets and time frame set by the government are in question.)

  The oil sands companies, it seems, are happy to hide their light  
under CAPP’s bushel on one of the major federal issues they will face  
in coming years. Why aren’t the big oil sands companies standing up  
and saying, this is what the federal government’s move means, and this  
is what we think about it?

While there are many exceptions, a fair number of CEOs and senior  
executives of Calgary’s largest energy companies seem happy to limit  
their public appearances to annual meetings and quarterly conference  
calls, and restrict their contact with reporters to brief scrums. It  
doesn’t help them get their point of view across, and it doesn’t  
inform the public on the exciting things their companies are actually  
trying to do.

Yes, these are busy men. But it appears that they are too afraid to  
become associated with any negatives connected with oil sands  
development. That fear is preventing the message that companies want  
to put across – that they are responsible corporate citizens doing  
necessary economic development.

After all, if you can’t stand there and take your shots, you don’t get  
to deliver any punches yourself either.