Our Lovely Speaker, Suzanne West
Our Lovely Speaker, Suzanne West
By Ralph Lundberg
Bill Kaufmann took the podium to introduce our speaker. An energetic young lady in a bright coloured dress was telling us how to create wealth through petroleum production without destroying the environment. Suzanne West has credentials though, having just raised $270 million U.S. to finance the activities of her company, Imaginea Energy.
Suzanne doesn't know of a rule book that says we can't make amazing profits and not wreck the planet at the same time. Imaginea wants to make sustainability part of the fabric of how it does business. Some idea: use hemp as a feedstock, use in situ bacteria as part of reclamation work, build roads to use existing soil rather than imported gravel and asphalt, convert flare gas into methane to run generators.
She went on to explain that he petroleum industry can learn from a company like Kodak, who failed to perceive what people wanted and vanished as a corporation. The world is seeking clean affordable energy, with or without us. The key is to be open to new radical ideas in the workplace.
Our speaker, Suzanne West
When asked how to advice unemployed petroleum engineers, Suzanne asserted that someone in that position should present themselves as a problem solver, not just an engineer. To another query about the role of government in technological development, Suzanne stated that such support could be helpful as long as government does not get in the way.
Greg Stevenson thanked our speaker with our customary CAWST certificate.