Our Leadership Team
Gregg Smith
Honours B.Sc
Mr. Smith brings over 35 years of combined technical and managerial experience in the oil and gas industry. He served as a COO with both PetroBank and PetroBakken Resources. At Petrobank he led the Canadian Business unit’s growth from 2,000 BOEPD to over 22,000 boepd. In 2009 he led the spinout of the business unit from Petrobank to form the new enterprise PetroBakken, which subsequently grew to over 50,000 BOEPD. Production growth evolved from aggressive drilling in resource plays following the strategic acquisitions of under-developed assets through transactions in excess of $4.5bn. Through his career Mr. Smith was fortunate to work in technical and executive roles across Western Canada, Offshore Louisiana & Texas, and international projects in the Middle East. In 2009 Mr. Smith received the honour of receiving “Saskatchewan Oilman of the Year” for the achievements of the multi-discipline team he led in optimizing drilling and completion techniques in the Bakken play providing a major increase in oil productivity per well. Mr. Smith also served in multiple roles on numerous corporate boards within the oil and gas industry.
Greg Phaneuf
CPA:CA, CFA
Mr. Phaneuf brings over 28 years of combined experience in finance and leadership disciplines. He was formerly co-founder and CFO of two upstream resource companies (Seven Generations Energy, Toro Oil & Gas), and served as CFO of two technology companies. Mr. Phaneuf has led both domestic and international corporate development divisions for small and large enterprises with operations in North America, China, Latin America and the Middle East. (Ivanhoe Energy, Churchill Corporation) He was the Treasurer and part of the deal team for Western Oil Sands’ $7 billion corporate divestiture to Marathon Oil. Over his career, Mr. Phaneuf has led or assisted in financings in excess of C$2 billion and was involved in M&A transactions, inclusive of the Western Oil Sands’ divestiture, in excess of C$7.5 billion. His areas of expertise include corporate finance, M&A, modeling, capital markets, financial reporting and strategic planning.
Dale Shipman
P.Eng
Mr. Shipman brings over 30 years of progressive experience in technical leadership and managerial experience in the oil and gas industry, with extensive knowledge of diverse reservoirs across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. His background features a broad spectrum of skillsets including Exploitation, Production, Reservoir, Operations, Economics and Project Management. Mr. Shipman most recently built his skills working with Ridgeback Resources, NAL Resources, Alberta Clipper Energy, Ember Resources, Husky Energy and Numac Energy. In more recent years he led teams developing light oil resource plays in the Cardium and Montney zones as well as liquids-rich gas in the Spirit River play. Under Mr. Shipman’s leadership, these plays achieved 30,000 boe/d, while managing annual capital budgets up to $500 million. While leading PetroBakken’s Cardium team the production grew from 5,000 to 20,000 boepd over 4 years period.
Geoff Speers
Geo, B.Sc. Honours Geology, Petroleum Data Analyst Certification
Mr. Speers brings over 15 years of combined technical experience in the oil and gas industry. He has successfully executed multiple exploration and development drilling/completion programs targeting conventional and unconventional reservoirs including Shale Oil/Gas, Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), and Coalbed Methane (CBM). Mr. Speers initiated and managed the development plans for over $1.0bn of investment in the drilling of over 300 wellbores including 150+ horizontal multi-stage stimulated wellbores across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin while serving as Senior Geologist at Pengrowth Energy Corporation. He has also served as a principle geologic advisor on multiple corporate A&D initiatives resulting in over $3.0bn of successful corporate acquisitions by Pengrowth. Mr. Speers holds a B.Sc honours degree in addition to being a registered Professional Geologist with APEGA and is a Certified Petroleum Data Analyst registered with the PPDM. Mr. Speers provides volunteer leadership with his professional organization the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG).
Wayne Gaskin
Geo, B.Sc. Geology/Geophysics, M. Sc. Geophysics
Mr. Gaskin brings over 27 years of combined expertise in data analysis for mining and petroleum exploration and development. He has provided technical support for exploration and development plays in South America and Canada. He was part of a team effort for the early adoption and development of horizontal drilling and multistage fracture technology (Montney). Mr. Gaskin has provided geophysical drilling support for 300+ wells with 97% success rate and 30 MMBOE of reserves. His areas of expertise include the integration of geological, geophysical, and engineering, technology. Companies of note include Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (M.Sc), Veritas Seismic, Numac Energy, Hunt Oil Company of Canada, Advantage Oil and Gas, Crew Energy and Enerplus.
