Neighbourly; that was a word commonly used by those who attended Osum's open house last night.
The local oil producer invited residents to take a look at what's been keeping them busy this past year and what they have in the works for 2020 during an information night at Riverhurst Hall.
“It’s a first-class operation,” stated MD resident Stan Woychuk, who lives half a mile away from Osum's operations.
"I'm a neighbour of the plant... so I want to know what’s going on, I want to know what emissions are doing, how much water they're consuming, how much natural gas they’re consuming for their boilers, so I come here and I learn,” Woychuk said about attending the event.
He added, “I don’t know the mechanics of their field operations, but I do know they keep us informed through the health and safety staff. We know what’s going on, like when they’re drilling and when it’s going to be noisy. They’re good corporate citizens."
It's keeping residents such as Woychuk informed that has Osum holding the information session every year, said COO Rick Walsh.
“It’s part of how we do business. We want to be a good neighbour in the communities of which we operate, being visible and accessible, and this is one of the ways that we do that. We know it’s appreciated and it gives us a really good opportunity to talk to people that we don’t necessarily see during the year at any other venue."
MD Coun. Dana Swigart said, “You would rather have a company like Osum who is open and supporting local communities… People have to know, and as long as you can talk to people and be open about what you’re doing, then they’re way more accepting of that."
Town Coun. Ray Prevost agreed.
“Bonnyville thrives on the oil industry, we’re the oil industry service centre of the entire region, and I think it’s important for them to tell us where they’re at and where they’re going, and I understand that Osum is doing fairly well and they’re pretty happy with the position that they’re in."
It was business as usual for the company in 2019.
“We did a large growth project last year where we basically doubled our capacity, and this year was really about continuing our journey on operational excellence, being unwavering on safety and environmental performance, and learning how to operate this new two train operation that we have, as well as ramping up the new wells that we drilled last year,” detailed Walsh.
Gazing into the future, Osum plans on carrying on with production, operating within the current curtailed environment, which was enacted by the former provincial government as a means of gaining more control over the price of Alberta's oil.
"(It) has worked for the most part… So we will work within that, continue to do smart things, we have another growth project ready to grow, but we probably won’t move ahead with that until curtailment is lifted,” noted Walsh.
He continued, “We will keep doing what we’re doing and will use this opportunity to pay down our debt… to put us in a better financial situation. We’re already in a solid and stable environment, but this is just a good, sound thing for us to be doing at this time."
Walsh noted even though the oil industry has seen better days, Osum is continuing to thrive.
“We’re now a sustainable oil company, we’re producing upwards of 19,000 barrels per day. That has dropped our operating costs, which allows us to work within this challenging environment for an unlimited amount of time."
It's by keeping their doors and ears open that has residents and municipal leaders calling Osum an ideal neighbour.
“It’s great to have Osum here, because they really are community minded, and we need that workforce. Being a small private company, they’re able to do this, which is really great for our community,” stated Swigart.
Walsh said it's something their company takes pride in.
“The message is we’re always open to talk. We welcome dialogue and the interface and if there are any concerns people may have there are lots of ways they can reach us,” he exclaimed. “The bottom line is we’re a very open company, we succeed or fail with the folks that are around us."
