CHOA Leads – Beyond the Headlines: Venezuela’s Heavy Oil Future and What It Means for Canada

CHOA Leads – Beyond the Headlines: Venezuela’s Heavy Oil Future and What It Means for Canada

March 2nd, 2026  –  3:15 PM – 4:45 PM  –  Gulf Canada Square Auditorium (3rd floor)

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER

Join us for an engaging panel discussion examining Venezuela’s evolving heavy oil sector and its implications for global supply dynamics and Canadian producers. Experts will explore how Venezuela’s shifting political and operational landscape could reshape global supply patterns, impact traditional trade routes, and influence both near‑term demand and long‑term pricing dynamics.

The session will also dive into the technical challenges of producing Venezuelan heavy crude—from subsurface development through to infrastructure constraints and market-access hurdles. Critically, we’ll explore what this means for Canada’s heavy oil sector, including competitive positioning, refinery dynamics, and strategic opportunities in a shifting market landscape. Whether you’re focused on market strategy, technical operations, or geopolitical risk, this session delivers actionable insights on how Venezuela’s next moves may reshape the heavy oil ecosystem.

Presenters:

• Rory Johnston, Founder, Commodity Context
• Susan Bell, SVP Downstream, Rystad Energy
• Barry Blacklock, President, Laryan Enterprises Ltd.

Rory Johnston is a Toronto-based oil market researcher, the founder of Commodity Context, a lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, host of the Oil Ground Up podcast, as well as a Fellow with both the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines. 

He is a leading voice on oil market analysis, advising institutional investors, global policy makers, and corporate decision makers. His views are regularly quoted in major international media including the Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Reuters, BNN Bloomberg, CBC, and Financial Post, and he frequently appears on numerous market and industry podcasts (e.g., Bloomberg’s Odd Lots, Hidden Forces, etc.). 

Prior to founding Commodity Context, Rory led commodity economics research at Scotiabank where he set the bank’s energy and metals price forecasts, advised the bank’s executives and clients, and sat on the bank’s senior credit committee for commodity-exposed sectors. 

Susan Bell is the Senior Vice President of Downstream Research and provides leadership within the Oil Trading Solution organization. She and her team focus on ensuring clients receive timely, high-quality data and analytics on global refined product supply and demand, trade flows and refinery margins. Susan joined Rystad Energy in September 2023 with more than 25 years of experience in the industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Alberta in Canada and has held numerous positions within the upstream and downstream petroleum industry. Her experience includes refinery operations and optimization, strategic planning and oil market analysis for crude oil and refined products. 

Barry Blacklock, president of Laryan Enterprises Ltd. in Calgary, is a seasoned entrepreneur with more than 45 years of experience in early-stage business development in the international oil and gas sector, with a strong focus on Latin America over the past 33 years. Based in Caracas from 1992 to 2009, he played an active role in the opening of Venezuela’s petroleum industry under the Caldera administration. Barry served as a local partner in the second marginal-field bidding round with Morgan Hydrocarbons, and later with PanCanadian, Gulf Canada, Koch Canada, PacAlta, and Forest Oil in the third round. 

In 1999, he authored a comprehensive report on Venezuela’s 3.4 million b/d industry for the Canadian embassy and continued to promote Canadian thermal heavy-oil technologies as development of the Orinoco Belt accelerated, including efforts to pilot SAGD and then THAI from 2000–2006, and Harris’s ESEIEH technology in 2014–2015. 

As Venezuela’s industry declined, Barry shifted his focus regionally. He is now co-founder of SurCana Energy Inc., which is partnering with an Argentine operator to develop significant new heavy-oil reserves in the San Jorge Basin. Barry and his associates are preparing a strategic roadmap to support Canadian participation in eventual reconstruction of Venezuela’s energy-sector. 

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Agenda:

3:00 – Doors open

3:00 – 3:15 – Check-in

3:15 – 3:30 –  Welcome remarks

3:30 – 4:15 – Individual presentations

4:15 – 4:45 – Panel discussion and Q&A

4:45 – 5:30 – Networking

Your ticket includes snacks and beverages served during the networking session.

REGISTER TODAY

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CHOA Leads 

This series features insightful presentations and panel discussions by technical and business leaders. The quarterly sessions share technological innovations and updates, discuss case studies, address business-related questions (geopolitical climate, tariffs, investments), impart knowledge and mentorship, and showcase relevant industry products and services. Each event includes dedicated time for networking with industry peers. Each event includes dedicated time for you to network with industry professionals.

If you want to be a CHOA Leads presenter, volunteer, or sponsor, contact [email protected].