When Will Roach joined UTS Energy as president a year ago, the news caused barely a ripple in the oil and gas markets.

UTS was then a minor player in the Athabasca oilsands and Roach was a newcomer to Alberta and relatively unknown, despite his previous role as general manager of Husky Energy's East Coast operations.

Since then, all that has changed. With Roach at the helm, UTS has reached prominence as a major player in the Alberta oilsands and is a hit with the investment community with UTS share price up 135 per cent (at one point earlier this year, the stock had tripled before its recent plunge.)

Roach, a native of Wales who came to UTS with an impressive resume for developing high-impact oil and gas projects, was named CEO last October, and it didn't take him long to deliver.

In March, UTS secured a partnership with Petro-Canada to develop the Fort Hills oilsands project north of Fort McMurray.

That's a pretty good start for any rookie CEO, but, with the project in its infancy, no doubt you'll be hearing more and more from Will Roach and UTS Energy.

1. Who had the greatest influence on your life during your boyhood in Wales?

"It was my family, which was pretty closely knit - my mom (Nina) and dad (James) and my three brothers and my sister. Sadly, my father died when I was 17 so that was a big influence on me in a very negative way, but also a very positive way. I realized from an early age that I would have to be pretty independent, get on and pay my own way (to university). I managed to get a scholarship to go to university (University College of Swansea) and it was always clear to me that I wanted to be an engineer. As I was growing up, I realized that I would have to move away from there to get a job. The main jobs at that time in Wales were in tourism and agriculture. I look back on my years in Wales with great affection. It was a safe place to grow up. I still have a home in Wales. In fact, I was privileged enough to buy the house I grew up in from my mother a few years ago."

2. What was your first job outside university?

"I went to work for the Ministry of Defence in the U.K. I was a research metallurgist and I quickly realized that research wasn't for me. I grew restless there. I was a bit too impatient for it and you have to have a very original way of looking at the world to be successful at research. So I decided to move on into the oil business. A few of my friends from school had gone into the oil business and appeared to be having a great time, as it was both challenging and rewarding. So I saw two ads in the paper and I responded to them. I was fortunate enough to be offered both of them and joined Shell in Aberdeen as a field engineer. I had to move up to Scotland, which was very different. Although to North Americans it wasn't too far, only about 560 miles from the south of England, it seemed a long way at the time."

3. After 13 years with Royal Dutch/Shell, why did you leave in 1996?

"I was offered a huge opportunity in a very small British independent company called British-Borneo. The company was chaired by Sir Bob Reid, the ex-chairman of Shell. I went to Houston to run their projects group for them and we did two very successful deep-water projects for which we were fortunate enough to get recognition from the Minerals Management Service, the American government regulator, for the safety performance of those projects. Unfortunately, the company wasn't doing too well overall and AGIP (an Italian oil company) purchased the company. Then, I got invited to join Husky Energy to run their East Coast operations. The real challenge there was to get the White Rose project (Husky's joint-venture project with Petro-Canada) off the ground. That was a big project that is coming onstream later this year and it has been very successful."

4. How do you think your previous experience in the oil industry fits your current role with UTS Energy?

"With British-Borneo and Husky, the real experience was in taking an organization and developing the capability to deliver major projects. So, when you roll that forward to the UTS role, it's a very similar opportunity here, except that we didn't have any staff here other than the four senior guys running the company when I joined (last year). This was a great opportunity to take a clean sheet of paper and strategically develop a company around a huge asset. Having run five projects prior to taking this one, there is a plethora of experience that is very similar although the environments were different before. The commonality of this project to the past ones is amazing."

5. How did you initially hook up with UTS?

"I was invited to go and talk to Dennis Sharp (executive chairman of UTS) by a search firm. I met him a few more times and it was fascinating listening to Dennis talk about the oilsands. He has a 40-year perspective on them. He started his career with Shell way back in the 1960s and he has seen this massive (oilsands) development occur in the last five to 10 years. So it was an opportunity to work with somebody with a unique perspective who knew all the capital markets and who had a successful background."

6. How did the deal with Petro-Canada to develop the Fort Hills project come about?

"Just after I joined UTS, we managed to buy 100 per cent of the Fort Hills asset from TrueNorth Energy. (UTS previously owned 22 per cent of the Fort Hills project.) After that, being a very small company, it was pretty clear that we needed to take partners. The criteria for a downstream partner was a large, experienced company that had a lot of refinery experience because upgrading is very similar to that. We also wanted a recognized name in the capital markets. We wanted a company with a strong balance sheet. And most importantly, we wanted a company that had the ability to deliver large projects and had done so in the Alberta environment. And we also wanted a company that could work with small companies. All in all, Petro-Canada (which will be the operator of the project) came out very high in the ranking and we started the discussion with Petro-Canada way back in August of last year. We went through a process, they were the best candidate and we were very happy with that."

7. How many other options did you have before you reached the agreement with Petro-Canada?

"We were talking to a number of different companies. In total, I think we talked to about 25 companies and at the end of the day there were about five or six serious candidates (including Asian interests). We've got a great partner and we probably shouldn't dissect in too much detail the process of getting there. We saw a great partner in Petro-Canada, they were very keen and they made a very good offer to join the partnership. Of course, I had worked with Petro-Canada before (while with Husky) and I'm pretty sure that helped the process."

8. What's your major focus now?

"It's to build an outstanding partnership with both Petro-Canada and hopefully a mining partner. We're working with Petro-Canada on getting a mining partner right now. Hopefully, one way or another, we'll sort that out before the end of the second quarter of this year. We also have another asset, Lease 14, which is just across the river (from the Fort Hills project). We're very optimistic about that lease and we're going to be drilling that in the first quarter of next year. It's 7,000 acres and it's sandwiched between two Shell (Canada) leases, Lease 9 and Lease 17. Lease 9 has already been drilled and I believe that the owners of that lease think that they have a resource in the order of a billion barrels (of bitumen). That would suggest that we are certainly very optimistic about our lease although I would add, very clearly, that we haven't drilled it yet. So that's a very speculative comment."

9. Do you expect Shell may be a potential partner on that property?

"It would be logical to conclude that, but of course I would be very wary of talking for Shell."

10. What are the most daunting challenges that your company faces in developing the Fort Hills project?

"It's getting the partnership (with Petro-Canada) to be successful and getting the right mining partner. After that, it's to deliver a really good plan that we can finance because we're going to have to raise about, well, anywhere up to about $1.6 billion for the first phase of the project. That's a pretty substantial challenge. When the oil markets are very strong, it's a lot easier to consider doing that. Of course, as you know, there's a great deal of volatility in that market."

11. Will the oilsands be the only focus of your company or might you expand your horizons to other areas?

"I'm pretty cautious answering that. What I would like to do is deliver the Fort Hills project, create the value for the shareholders on the backbone of the company. At the moment, if we do that, in eight or nine years that'll turn us into a 70,000 to 80,000 barrel-a-day production company with our working interest. That's a pretty substantial company. So we mustn't take our eye off the main ball. That is the key. And that (projection) doesn't include Lease 14. If that (Lease 14) comes in, that's a pretty big set of challenges for a very small company like ours. We have a very talented team of about 20 people so if we end up delivering, 'A,' Fort Hills and, 'B,' Lease 14, then we can see if there are any other opportunities that we can get into the system because of the upgrader we're having to build in the project. But very clearly, the first thing is to deliver the assets we've got right now."

12. Are you keeping a keen eye on the share price, which has been very volatile?

"I think that everyone in my position watches their share price and everybody gets invited not to do so on a daily basis. But if we do our job properly, then the share price should look after itself. The key message to the shareholders is that we're going to work to do the right things and we're going to deliver the value in the longer term. We believe there is a very good growth potential in the company."

13. What oil price would you be comfortable in developing the Fort Hills project?

"We're pretty comfortable and we're robust at anything above $30 US WTI (West Texas Intermediate per barrel)."

14. What sort of an impact do you envision for the Alberta oilsands?

"Huge. Absolutely huge. The scale of the opportunity is really quite staggering. If you look at today's identified reserves and resources, it's about 175 billion barrels. With existing technology, we believe there can probably be another 125 billion barrels developed. If you look at the total resource in the ground in those deposits, it's 1.7 trillion barrels. So the key to delivery of the value is to continue making these projects more environmentally friendly, to work hard to minimize water usage and the use of natural gas in the processes. Because these projects can last another 50 to 100 years, it's pretty clear that any operator has to pay a lot of attention to those sustainability issues. The oilsands will have a huge impact and, if the growth is delivered as predicted, there's going to be a threefold to fourfold growth over the next two or three years.

And that's just the beginning."

15. Are you personally looking at UTS as a long-term commitment?

"This company presents a huge opportunity for all of the people within the company and probably many that are not yet in the company. So I certainly see my future with UTS Energy and I would say that is certainly for the long term. I took the position with that in mind. I have quite a large family who have all moved out here with me and Calgary is a great area for them to grow up in. There are great opportunities educationally but also, most importantly, for employment thereafter. It's a pro-business, booming area. I've been here about a year now and it appears to be a lovely place to live and I feel privileged."

16. Of the CEOs you've worked under before, who are the ones who have had the greatest impact on your career?

"I've learned a lot from all of the CEOs I've worked for. John Lau, at Husky, has been a strong influence. He has taken that company in a period of 10 years from a very difficult situation in terms of the company's finances to a thriving business that is growing fantastically.

Dennis Sharp, the gentleman who I work with right now, has been a huge influence on me in terms of his experience in the capital markets and also his entrepreneurship and knowledge of the area. And, sadly, there was the late Allan Gaynor, who at British-Borneo was the most charismatic individual I've ever seen in talking to investors. He was also a visionary. He was really spectacular."

17. What do you consider to be your strength as a business leader?

"I would say I work very hard and I'm very persistent. I spend a lot of time trying to think about what everybody else is thinking about in terms of any of the business transactions we're trying to do. So I spend a lot of time trying to put myself into other people's shoes."

18. What are you proudest of when you reflect on your career?

"I'm proud of everything I've been part of, but the proudest achievement was probably our achievement on the White Rose project. I think Husky Energy and Petro-Canada really put together a great project there and so I take a lot of pride in having been associated with the first successful project on the East Coast. But hopefully I'll have a different view in four years' time."

19. How do you define success?

"Interestingly, my mother said I'll never be satisfied because I'm too ambitious, which was something that was very worrying for me. But my definition of success, in the environment that I'm working in, would be first to gain the respect of my peers and the team that I'm working with. And I'd like to be able to feel as though we're contributing to something slightly bigger than just the company that we're working with.

If we get the environmental issues right in the oilsands, it will be a huge contribution to the industry, and UTS is now pushing strongly on looking at new extraction technology with Petro-Canada. So success would be achieving the growth or value delivery to the shareholders in a responsible way."

20. Was your mother right about you being too ambitious?

"No. I don't think so.What she was saying to me was to be careful and enjoy the journey, because it's over very quickly and you mustn't spend all of your time working. That's a key message. You mustn't spend all of your time working."

IN PROFILE: WILL ROACH

* Title: President/CEO, UTS Energy Corp.

* Born/raised/age: Swansea, Wales/48.

* Education: University College of Swansea (Wales), bachelor of science, metallurgy, PhD, physical metallurgy.

* Family: Wife Mary, 10 children (including six stepchildren).

* Career: A professional engineer, Roach began his oil and gas career with Royal Dutch/Shell in 1983 and was a project manager when he left that company in 1996. He was also a project manager with British-Borneo from 1996-2000 before working as Husky Energy's general manager of East Coast operations from 2000 to 2004.

* Drives to work in: A 2000 Mercedes ML320 sport utility vehicle.

* Last book read: For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway.

THE COMPANY: UTS ENERGY CORP.

* Brass: Will Roach, president/CEO; Dennis Sharp, executive chairman; Leigh Cassidy, vice-president/chief financial officer.

* Profile: UTS is a 40-per-cent owner of the Fort Hills oilsands project north of Fort McMurray and has a partnership in the project with Petro-Canada, which is the operator and 60-per-cent owner of the property. UTS is also 100-per-cent owner of Lease 14, another oilsands property in the Athabasca oilsands region.

* Stats: The proposed initial phase of production at Fort Hills calls for production of 50,000 barrels of bitumen per day by June, 2009. Further expansion is anticipated to boost production to 200,000 barrels per day.

* Recent Stock Price: $1.91 (52-week range, $0.62-$2.80).

* Website: www.uts.ca

* Head Office: 1000, 350 7 Ave. S.W., Calgary, T2P 3N9.

* Phone/Fax: 403-538-7030/538-7033.

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)