Calgary’s energy industry is already riding the new wave of e-business, but cautiously, says one of the city’s oilpatch veterans.
Canadian Hunter chairman Jim Gray is quick to dismiss reports that Calgary’s oil and gas sector is playing catch-up to other businesses in embracing the e-commerce model. The industry has always prided itself on being open to change, he points out.
“When you think about all the changes that have been invoked in our industry, and how we accept and utilize new technology instantly — whether it’s 3D seismic, horizontal drilling, new forms of accounting practices, or the explosion of the computer in our industry — we’re a high-tech industry, and we accept new forms of technology instantly,” he says.
“That’s the leverage, the opportunity, where you can get an edge on the competition.”
But the co-founder of Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd., one of Canada’s larger natural gas producers, still believes it’s good business practice in the energy industry “to know the depth of the water before you jump in.”
“It’s a bit cautious,” admits Gray. “We don’t want to be going on fads . . . People are going to want to go in in a measured way, but they can measure pretty quickly and pretty effectively.”
Organizers of next week’s Energy & E-Business Conference and Trade Show have targeted their seminars towards Calgary’s oilpatch executives to help bridge the knowledge gap they say exists between many top decision- makers and the new way of doing business.
Gray, however, says it’s not like the energy industry has been riding a Model-T Ford and is now only kicking the tires on a jet engine.
“What I have observed for decades, is that this industry is extremely entrepreneurial, very fast to grab hold of technology and run with it,” says Gray.
E-business is just like any other form of technology, he believes, except it’s moving at a breakneck speed. Yet Canadian Hunter feels comfortable keeping its own pace as the business model changes, adds Gray, who says he remains skeptical of “magic elixirs” which promise to revolutionize the energy industry.
“I’ve learned to believe in incremental change, and fast-paced incremental change,” he says. “But big leaps? Rarely.”
The core of his business will remain drilling wells, producing oil and gas, and finding better ways to do so.
Today’s CEO’s are more comfortable with computer technology and e-business than his own generation, Gray believes, but are smart enough to trust the judgment of their staff to assess the new economy and determine how and when their companies should adapt.
“We want them with their headlights on high beam, looking way out there,” Gray says of his Canadian Hunter team. “But we also don’t want them to miss the pothole right in front of them on the road.”
