Heavy Oil Community Relations the Husky Experience
Authors: Berry Holland J. 
Published: March 2010

The key to Husky's generally successful community relations has been adapting to a changing social environment and relating to the community of Lloydminster and the surrounding area on a straightforward and personal basis.

Prior to 1978, the principal owners And senior management of Husky directed the company's affairs and were the focal point of Husky's community relations activities. Their involvement was very personal and responsive to the aspirations of the community. In recent years and at present, the challenge has been and is to deal with an accelerated growth situation involving a doubling of refinery capacity, a proposed pipeline from Lloydminster to Cold Lake, intensified and more concentrated activity associated with exploration, production and enhanced oil recovery, and the possibility of the construction of an upgrader facility. The impact of these developments is broader and will involve more people and the timing is such that both social and environmental questions call for more attention and committment. The key to successful community relations will remain a personal approach in which senior Husky personnel communicate directly with the community on a timely basis.

Husky has responsibilities not only to the people of the Lloydminster area, but also to the shareholders of the company. We fulfill our responsibilities by operating as a good corporate citizen with concern for the efficiency of our operations and for the people who live with us in and around Lloydminster.

Introduction

Husky's community relations is a changing process which is in part strongly influenced by our changing times and the activities we wish to pursue. In this respect, our community relations activities are no doubt similar to those followed by numerous other companies not only in the oil and gas industry, but in the mining industry and other industries as well.

I would like to begin by discussing responsibility. Who is Husky responsible to?

Husky is responsible to its shareholders, the vast majority of which are Canadians. This responsibility to the shareholders should come as no surprise, as the shareholders are the equity owners of the company. In a broader corporate sense, however, Husky is responsible to all the people of Canada. Husky can make this statement with some conviction because, as Bob Blair, chairman of the board of Husky Oil Ltd., pointed out in a recent address to the Financial Post Conference in Toronto, the NOVA/ Husky joint corporation, when ranked by assets, is the 14th largest corporation in Canada and the 6th largest Canadian-investor- owned corporation. From a Western viewpoint, the NOVA/Husky combination, on the basis of assets, is the largest corporation headquartered and directed west of Toronto. The large project management and investment responsibilities to be undertaken by NOVA and Husky in the years ahead will affect many communities. These communities do not request that these projects be undertaken in a responsible manner, they demand it, as well they should. A short analogy will illustrate this point.

Husky carries out most of its heavy oil activities in the L1oydminster area that spans the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.