Future of Natural Gas talked about ending Fort St. John Creating Energy Conference

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Energy solutions and the industry as a whole were put through a microscope this week in Fort St. John.

The Creating Energy Conference took place on Tuesday, April 21st at the Pomeroy Hotel and Conference in Fort St. John.

The day-long event featured panels on the energy sector, with the last panel focusing on natural gas and its future in B.C. and beyond.

The event was hosted by the Fort St. John and District Chamber of Commerce. Tiffany Hetenyi is the organization’s executive director.

“[The panel] was important because there are a lot of interconnected portions to natural gas,” said Hetenyi. “We are the upstream. This is where the gas comes from, and we don’t always get the return for it.”

“It also looked at our workforce. We heard today we’re not at max capacity of our workforce, but if everything goes through with different LNG projects, we are going to be needing people trained.”

The panel was overseen by the chamber’s president, Deena Del Giusto, who led panelists through a set of questions throughout the hour-long session. 

She was joined by Surerus Pipeline president Sean Surerus, B.C. policy and strategic outreach senior advisor with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) Derek Cummings, Northern Lights College director of its Centre for Applied Energy and Environmental Sustainability Dave Jeffers, and Lee Wizniuk, a production superintendent with Tourmaline Oil with three decades within the industry based in Charlie Lake.

Based in Victoria, Cummings says discussions about oil and gas need to be more prominent in the capital and the impact the industry has, which can be seen throughout the province.

“I think [Victoria] is where we need people talking about the impact of this sector,” Cummings told attendees. “[It is] evident here in this region, but in some places, not so much.”

“We think about where we are geopolitically, there’s a lot of uncertainty. We talked about that throughout the day in some of the other presentations, and we have a tremendous opportunity in Canada…energy security is back at the centre of a lot of these conversations that maybe wasn’t four or five years ago, and being a stable, reliable supplier is more important than ever.”

With new production, Cummings spoke of the future of projects such as LNG Canada, a liquified natural gas terminal currently in Kitimat. He also spoke about Cedar LNG, also in Kitimat and Woodfibre LNG in Squamish. 

According to Cummings, production at LNG Canada is expected to double over the next decade, which means more wells will need to be drilled to meet market demand in Asia. He estimated about 500 wells are drilled on an annual basis.

“With all these LNG projects that are starting, that are in construction, and that we hope will go ahead, that will require up to nearly 1500 wells drilled,” said Cummings. “It’s rough math, but it is a huge step up with where we are today.”

Meanwhile, Wizniuk said Tourmaline drills around 350 wells per year, with 200 of those in B.C. alone.

“It’s a large number. We are actively drilling,” said Wizniuk. “We’re actively building. [Tourmaline] sold its oil assets in Alberta last November. Money from that purchase is going to actually help us grow the Northeast BC asset for the next five years.”

“We’re going to grow, we’re going to build, we’re going to drill, we’re going to retrofit. So it’s pretty exciting.”

Jeffers said professional development in schools such as NLC are critical in an ever-changing landscape for industry.

“As an institution, we need to help shift and change the narrative about fossil fuels and natural gas,” said Jeffers. “If we can shift the thinking of our next generation, our kids, to understand that their kids and their kids will have a bright future in oil and gas.”

“A lot of our students coming up out of high schools around the province don’t think that there’s a future here, and that’s absolutely wrong.  If we want to contribute to the globe and contribute to climate change and do all those things, B.C.’s natural gas is a great answer to that.”

The Creating Energy Conference 2026 took place at the Pomeroy Hotel and Conference Centre in Fort St. John on Tuesday, April 21st.