Charlie Fischer is one of the most accomplished and community-recognized CEOs in the Canadian oilpatch. He’s also a hometown boy – almost. The native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (who believes, by the way, that the notion of Alberta and Saskatchewan merging into one province is mildly absurd) has been a leader at Nexen since 1994. Since then, he has helped the company become a leading oilsands player, a source of deep-water exploration expertise and an organization where its 3,200 employees actively support a culture based on integrity and ethical performance. A strong supporter of the University of Calgary and the community at large, the chemical engineer with an MBA in finance has served in numerous volunteer and fund-raising capacities and in 2004 was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from the U of C.

MW: Nexen so far has had a banner year in an economy that can only be described as an embarrassment of riches – what are your reflections on the times?

CF: For our industry the times are wonderful but keep in mind this is a commodity business and prices don’t always rise. Some of us have been around along enough that we remember ’98 quite well and $12 barrels of oil was no fun. So, yes, prices are high but so are costs. Canada is not a very big place – we don’t have the depths of skilled labour and services and so when the demand rises, they cost a lot. As well, in the oilsands, we’re seeing infrastructure lagging and we saw Wood Buffalo intervene in Suncor’s expansion hearing – all of those things are signs of the times and so it’s never all roses.

MW: Having said that, do you think, then, that recent comments in the press about Canada being an “energy superpower” are overblown? Because that’s reality-check stuff, what you’re taking about.

CF: Yeah, I would say that’s taking a little liberty and license in making the point. I think that Canada is really driven largely by the West and a little bit on the East Coast and will continue to expand its oil production capabilities, largely driven by the oilsands, which is a huge resource. But it takes time to develop it. As Canada continues to develop oilsands and build supply capacity it will continue to be a larger and larger player but we’re a far cry from Saudi Arabia or Russia and will be for some time – they are very large producers in the world and it will be some time before we’re there.

MW: Could you describe Nexen’s investment in the electricity business?

CF: We made a small investment in electricity at our Balzac gas plant, probably half a dozen years ago, and the view at the time was really looking at the flexibility to supply energy in various forms. The opportunity to convert gas using co-gen to power was pretty simple; there were shortages of power at the time and we looked at that as an opportunity to learn a little bit about the power business and move in that direction. With our oilsands plant at Long Lake, as we consume syngas, we’re going to be generating power as well, both for our own uses and in selling to the grid. When you’re going to be a significant player in the oilsands then you also need to look at earning offsets and so we’re building some wind turbines in southwest Alberta (see sidebar) and that will help offset our carbon-intensive activities.

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