The Future of Oil and Gas in the Age of Decarbonization

An energy transition is happening now, and it’s complicated. While global governments set ambitious targets to decarbonize by 2050, the International Energy Agency still forecasts a demand of 20-80 million barrels of oil per day by 2050.

Beyond its role as a fuel, oil is necessary for production of plastics, synthetics, clothing and more. With such conflicting priorities and demands, what is the future of the oil and gas sector? Industry experts will discuss the economic, political, and social contexts of oil and gas development, its future and consider the consequences of transitioning too quickly or not quickly enough.

Join us for a look into the long road to decarbonization, and how it may impact all of our daily lives.

Speakers

Dr. Juliana Leung is a professor and researcher at the University of Alberta, and a Principal Investigator in the Future Energy Systems research program. She previously worked for Shell Canada and ExxonMobil Upstream. Dr. Leung is an expert in Reservoir Engineering and specializes in Reservoir characterization, Data analytics, History matching, Process optimization, Reservoir simulation, Geostatistics, Thermal-/solvent-based heavy oil processes, and Unconventional fractured reservoir modeling. She and her team are currently using artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to optimize processes for non-aqueous extraction in the oil sands. 

Dr. Leung received a PhD Petroleum engineering from the University of Texas, Austin. She has worked for Shell Canada and ExxonMobil Upstream. 

Kris Smith is Suncor’s Vice-President of Downstream, responsible for the operations of Suncor’s refining network in North America. This includes the distribution and marketing of refined products as well as Suncor’s renewable energy business. He has a 1992 BA with honours from the University of Alberta, a 1995 Law degree from Dalhousie University and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.

He joined Suncor’s Oil Sands business where he managed business services, strategic planning, production planning and logistics, and the operation of Suncor’s power generation, transmission assets and utility operations.

Mr. Smith sits on the board of directors for the Canadian Fuels Association, the association for Canada’s petroleum refining, distribution and marketing sector. Kris also sits on the board of directors of Actua, Canada’s largest science, technology, engineering and mathematics youth outreach organization and Evok Innovations, a technology and innovation fund established by Suncor Energy and Cenovus.

Richard Chuchla is the Director of and professor in the Energy and Earth Sciences graduate program at the University of Texas-Austin. He retired from ExxonMobil in 2015 as Executive after a 35-year career focused on oil and gas exploration and development. His career at ExxonMobil has included assignments in minerals (base and precious metals), coal, oil and gas exploration, development, research, management and as a senior corporate strategic adviser to the Management Committee and CEO.

Mr. Chuckla has a Masters in Geology from the University of Texas, Austin and an undergraduate degree from Cornell.

Mr. Merlin Cochran is the Executive Director of AMEXHI, a non-profit civil association that brings together the main oil and gas investors and operators in Mexico. The affiliated companies are of various specialties interested in investing in Mexico and committed to carrying out safe, responsible and sustainable operations.

He was previously the Deputy General Director, Secretaría de Energía, Rig Manager for the Arabian Drilling Company and spent several years with Schlumberger.

Mr. Cochran has an MBA from Columbia Business School and London Business School, a BSc in Civil Engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Executive Program at the Harvard Business School.