About 100 people attended the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG) annual general meeting at the Sundre Golf Club on Nov. 29.
The meeting saw the passing of the 2019 budget, the election of directors, and speeches by industry and regulator members.
SPOG is a collection of oil and gas companies with operations in the Sundre area. It promotes and addresses oil and gas issues through open houses, a resident visitor program and other activities.
It also has associate members such as Mountain View County.
Julia Fulford, regional manager of stakeholder engagement with the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) called SPOG a valuable community member.
“We really appreciate what SPOG does,” said Fulford. “SPOG really works with the community and the government agencies, and particularly the AER. SPOG really does play an important leadership role in this community. Keep up the good work.”
The AER is an Alberta corporation with the mandate under the Responsible Energy Development Act to oversee the development of energy resources in the province.
SPOG’s emergency response line is invaluable for the region, said Fulford.
“When there’s an emergency that comes in to the SPOG line, all of the operators work together. It is a huge benefit and we really appreciate it,” she said.
SPOG’s emergency exercises are a “fabulous benefit that SPOG is providing for us,” she said.
SPOG chair Carol Elliott, who is now in her second term as chair, commended industry, regulatory and community members for their efforts over the past year.
“It is satisfying to know that we are doing good things," said Elliott. “It’s been a rough couple of years and the industry is down. All of our industry members are doing more with less and all of our community members are doing more with less as well. I’m proud to be the chair of SPOG and I think it is a great group.”
Tracey McCrimmon is the executive director of SPOG.
“One of the things that we are really going to focus on in 2019 is building relationships with some of our industry partners and really focus on innovation and technology,” said McCrimmon.
She thanks community, regulatory and industry members.
The 2019 budget passed at the meeting calls for total spending of $171,000, the same as in 2018.
During the meeting, longtime SPOG community members Doug Lindblom and Jim Pearson were recognized. Carol Elliott was also honoured as an industry representative.
Among those in attendance at the meeting were Mountain View County councillor Peggy Johnson and Sundre mayor Terry Leslie.
