Colorado business and government leaders were set to take a field trip to Canada April 11 to try to boost cross-border investments and share expertise in each region’s booming energy industry as the two countries try to reduce their reliance on foreign oil.
Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper are heading a contingent of about 70 on stops over two days in Calgary, Alberta, and the vast oil sands in Fort McMurray in the northeastern part of the province. Canadian energy companies have invested more than $3 billion in Colorado in the past couple years, including Suncor’s purchase of the ConocoPhillips refinery in Commerce City and EnCana’s purchase of Tom Brown Inc., a Denver oil and gas company.
Both governments hope to see more of that as well as spending by U.S. companies in Canada.
The idea for the trade mission evolved as business and government leaders on both sides of the border recognized that the world energy situation is changing, said Michael Fine, the Canadian consul general in Denver.
“We in North America are going to have to do a lot better job looking after our own energy needs,” Fine said April 8.
The Rocky Mountain region is key to doing that, Fine and others said, because of its huge oil and natural gas deposits.
For the past few years, the Rockies have led the United States in the growth of gas production and discoveries of new fields, said Peter Dea, president and chief executive of the Denver-based company Western Gas Resources Inc., which recently opened an office in Calgary. Technological advances have made it easier to extract the oil and gas from the tight sands and other tough-to-crack formations of western Colorado.
Canada, which provides about 12 percent of all the oil used in the United States, is thought to be sitting atop the world’s second-largest oil reserve, most of which is in oil sands in northeastern Alberta.
In exchange, Canada hopes Colorado companies will share its expertise with coalbed methane.
The group will meet with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein, Calgary Mayor David Bronconnier, energy companies and investors.
“After our meetings, we would like to see them come down here and take a closer look at what Colorado’s about,” Baumunk said.
