Business Briefings: Crude Diplomacy: Oil & the Canada – USA Balancing Act

Interested in how the USA – Canada trade relationship affects your business?

Join us on March 5th.

The CHOA is planning a Business Briefings panel around the geopolitical shifts, trade and Canada/US dynamic, inviting several different viewpoints to address current challenges in our industry and adjacent sectors.

Panelists:

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Gitane De Silva is a public policy leader with experience at the provincial, national and international levels. She has deep expertise in the areas of energy and environment, Canada-U.S. relations and how Canada works.

Gitane currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Public Policy Forum and is a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. From 2020 to 2023, she was CEO of the Canada Energy Regulator, Canada’s national energy regulator responsible for regulating interprovincial and international pipelines and powerlines to ensure the safe and efficient delivery of energy to Canada and the world, while also protecting the environment, advancing Reconciliation, and providing relevant and timely energy information and analysis.

Gitane served as Alberta’s Senior Representative to the United States from 2016-2019 based out of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. working to enhance bilateral trade and cooperation. Gitane was Alberta’s Deputy Minister for International and Intergovernmental Relations from 2013 to 2016, developing a strong appreciation for questions of jurisdiction and the opportunities created when governments work together.

Before joining the Alberta Public Service, Gitane spent 12 years in Canada’s Foreign Service as a specialist in Canada-U.S. relations, serving in a variety of roles, including as Consul General of Canada in Chicago.

Gitane also served as Deputy Head of Agency at Status of Women Canada and Director General, APEC Women and the Economy Summit. She is a past recipient of the International Alliance for Women (TIAW) World of Difference Award.

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Kevin Birn is based in Calgary and is responsible for the Centre of Emission Excellence within S&P Global Commodity Insights. The Centre is responsible for accelerating Commodity Insights emissions quantification capabilities by helping to identify and inform strategic priorities, ensuring consistency in emission estimation across business lines, and providing technical support and guidance to development of new models, methods and tools in the estimation of GHG emissions across energy value chains.  Kevin has over a decade of experience engaging in and advising governments, companies and industry on emission accounting estimation as well as decarbonization strategies.  He is also an established thought leader on the Canadian oil market and serves as the Chief Analyst for the Canadian Oil Market.  Kevin is currently a fellow at the Canadian Global Affair Institute, a member of the Outreach & Engagement Committee at Emissions Reduction Alberta, and a member of the executive committee with the Global Energy Show.  He holds an undergraduate degree in business and a graduate degree in economics from the University of Alberta.

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Dr. Kent Fellows is an Assistant Professor in Economics and the Director of Graduate programs at The School of Public Policy where he oversees the Master of Public Policy and Master of Science in Sustainable Energy Development Programs. He is currently Fellow in Residence as an academic advisor and contributor to the C.D. Howe Institute Energy Policy program and a Board Member with the Van Horne Institute for transportation and logistics. Dr. Fellows specializes in multiple areas of Microeconomics including Competition Policy, Regulatory Economics, Transportation Economics and Energy and Environmental Economics. He has published multiple papers on those subjects in both academic and policy journals and his advice on related topics has been sought by provincial, federal and international governments.

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Raoul LeBlanc is Vice President for North American Upstream.  He has been with S&P Global for 10 years and focuses on evaluating the dynamic onshore arena and on emissions solutions.

Raoul’s passion lies in the intersection of oil and gas expertise and leading-edge data analytics.  He currently leads the development and commercialization of data products that leverage knowledge to make S&P’s data insightful for commercial decision-makers.  His contribution focuses on applying machine learning to shed light on both traditional upstream concerns as well as energy transitions issues.

At the same time, Raoul plays a key role in directing research and forecasting of onshore North America and then delivering an integrated, substantive story to executives and investors.

As a veteran of the industry and a former partner at PFC Energy, Raoul brings 30 years of experience in strategic and industry analysis. Familiar with a wide range of corporate and market issues, he has extensive experience on issues related to North American independents, upstream assets, natural gas markets, and emissions abatement.  During his 10 years at Anadarko Petroleum, he directed the company’s Strategic Planning effort, assuming responsibility for strategy formulation, portfolio optimization, scenario planning, and competitor analysis.

Raoul has worked and studied in Japan, the Western Pacific, and Britain.  He holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and an M.A. in Energy and International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies, The Johns Hopkins University.

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