Imperial Oil opened the floor to questions and provided feedback on their operations.
Residents flocked to the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre on Nov. 28 to get an update on what the local oil and gas company is working on and how their last year went.
Since their 2018 open house, Frank Oberle, public and government affairs manager for Imperial, noted the Cold Lake expansion has seen some changes.
"We've changed our direction with the Cold Lake expansion a little bit. The original project was approved, but we're looking at a phased approach. We would start with some initial wells instead of feeding a new production facility, we would feed the Nabiye plant," he explained.
Located within their Cold Lake operations, nestled in the MD of Bonnyville, the Grand Rapids project will see some drilling done in the winter to begin the process of developing their Nabiye plant.
"We're going to access the Grand Rapids zone, which we haven't before. We haven't got an internal funding decision on that yet, and we haven't made the final decision just yet," Oberle said.
He added, "Long term, if we move ahead with Grand Rapids, it would be part of the same expansion, but short-term we're waiting for a funding decision internally."
If the project gets the green light, it would have positive impacts locally.
"Obviously, as our activity levels pick up, there's going to be some new employment in the area," noted Jason Fraser, Cold Lake asset manager with Imperial. "We still have one more funding hurdle to get through, but provided we go through with it, there's going to be new pads, new pipelines, and a fair bit more activity in the area."
Neighbour Night gives residents the chance to get a better understanding of Imperial's operations and ask any questions they might have.
"We really enjoy the support of the community, and that's dependent on us sharing information with the community," Oberle said. "They like to understand what we're doing out there, our environmental performance, job opportunities, and all those sorts of things. We bring people from pretty much every group in the company... they're experts in their own area, and they're just talking to their neighbours like they would over their back fence."
Fraser agreed.
"It's our opportunity to really engage with the community, showcase some of the activities that we're up to, give people the chance to ask questions, and better understand our operations and the positive impacts it has on the area."
One of the reasons Arianne Crook, executive director for the Lakeland Industry and Community Association (LICA), went out was to show support for one of their partners.
"They always put on such a great event," she exclaimed. "They really spoil the community members with their awesome swag, their yummy treats, and they're really open to just answer questions that people have."
Crook noted she appreciates the company keeping residents in the loop on their operations and community involvement.
"LICA is a synergy group, so we like to foster a dialogue between our resource developers and producers in the area and community members. Companies like Imperial go above and beyond and make that link themselves, and make themselves available to community members if anybody has questions and they just make those connections themselves."
Oberle stressed Imperial plans to stay in Cold Lake for many years to come.
"We've been here 55 years now... We started a test pilot of four wells in 1964. They've learned and patented a lot of technologies here, and we're going to continue to do that. Continue to innovate, drive our carbon footprint down, and there's all kinds of things coming."
