Shell Waterton holds Open House event at Twin Butte Community Hall

Shell Waterton Operations Manager Jim Little and Production Superintendent Roger Stebner
C. Davis photo

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Shell Waterton held a well attended free Open House event on Thursday evening September 12 at Twin Butte Community Hall. There was a considerable amount of visual information available illustrating Shell Waterton projects past, ongoing, and planned and a number of Shell representatives were on hand to answer questions and accept feedback.  Dinner and dessert was provided to attendees, and there were a number of giveaways and door prizes.  The event was fairly low-key.


Waterton Complex Operations Manager Jim Little was present.  "I'm glad everyone came out, and took the time out of their busy lives to give us some feedback," he said.  "We often require the feedback from the residents and stakeholders involved to make decisions on how we need to change for the better."

Little said 142 people work at Shell Waterton on a daily basis, including contractors and employees.  He said that number can swell significantly when there are special projects underway.

"We haven't had an open house recently, but we like to host them so we can communicate our plans and answer any questions a community might have," said Shell Communications Advisor Amber Bassen.  "That was the objective tonight."

"We get asked 'Why do you do these events?'  We hope that the community finds it a really good opportunity to come out, meet with the Shell Reps, hear what we're up to, put faces to names, and get a general overview of what Shell is up to in the area."

"We welcome folks that missed the open house to give us a call, and we will try to answer any questions they may have."

"We also communicated our latest social investments," Bassen continued.  "The community knows that we give back, but they don't really know how.  So we shared a lot of the organizations that we've supported through our social investment fund."

Bassen said that the recent Shell Ombudsman pilot project was drawing to a close and would not be continuing after this year. "Based on feedback that we have received from the community, the community said that they felt comfortable calling the number of Shell channels we have available.  We have Rod Sinclair, our Community Affairs Representative, we have a public consultation representative, so we have a number of channels that the community can use if they have questions or want to get in touch with Shell."

I asked Bassen about the recent nighttime flaring that caused some consternation for area residents.  "It was the result of a lightning strike, and we don't foresee it happening again," she said.  "The crews got it under control very quickly, and by midday the next day the plant was operating as per usual."

As to the future of Shell Waterton Bassen said 'We expect the plant and facilities to be here in the foreseeable future.  Right now we are trying to optimise our existing facilities to extend the life of the plant as long as we possibly can."

"We are doing a couple of projects at the site called Thiocrete and Thiopave. They are two new sulphur encapsulating projects."

According to Shell.com Thiocrete is a "Unique Shell technology" that "reduces the cost of modifying sulphur for use in concrete enabling Shell to offer manufacturers a competitively-priced sulphur concrete binder".  Thiopave is a similar technology "developed to help road construction companies and road owners to improve road performance through innovative use of sulphur in the asphalt mixture".

New at Shell Waterton is Waterton 68, a new pipeline in the South Field.  As previously reported by the Pincher Creek Voice, on May 28, 2013 Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) announced their approval of Shell Waterton's applications to construct and operate a 1.2 km pipeline to transport sour natural gas, a 1.2 km pipeline to transport fuel gas, and to construct and operate a single well gas battery in the Waterton Field, which is located about 5.8 km southwest of Beaver Mines.

While some individuals and conservation groups have voiced opposition to Shell Waterton's activities in the Beaver Mines area, no such dissent was evident at the open house.

 "We received approval from the regulator in the spring with conditions to construct a pipeline," explained Amber Bassen.  "Our planned construction of that pipeline is spring of 2014." Jim Little clarified for me that the well itself was drilled and completed in 2011. "We had approval to drill and complete the well.  We did not have approval at the time to build the pipeline.  That was the (ERCB) hearing in the spring.  We went to the hearing to get the approval for the separate pipeline and facilities for that well, which we now have.  So next spring we will finish the construction of that facility, and tie it in.  At that point it will flow and produce."

"We are potentially drilling a new well in the summer of 2014,' Bassen added.  "We will kick off our consultations on that well and get feedback from stakeholders early November."  This new well would be located at Shell Waterton's 67 location, subject to consultation and regulatory approvals.*

"We always prefer to work through the concerns of a stakeholder over the kitchen table, face to face," Bassen continued.  "We want to hear that feedback first hand and incorporate it into our development plans.  For 50 years this community has granted us our license to operate."

Shell's Waterton Complex processes sour natural gas from the Waterton field. Products is produces include methane, propane, butane and ethane, condensate and sulphur.

*corrected for accuracy

Related story:
Shell Waterton receives ERCB approval for Beaver Mines area pipelines and gas battery
Related/source links:
Shell Waterton Complex
Shell Thiocrete
Shell Thiopave