The Western Petroleum Management (WPM) group has proven success in property optimization, negotiating and purchasing mature fields, and major acquisitions and corporate mergers. Individuals within the team have managed heavy oil operations and profited when oil prices were consistently below $20 per barrel in the mid to late 1990s.
Integrated Team
President
Bernie has over 29 years of experience in the industry both in the domestic and international scene. He graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1988 with a diploma in Petroleum Engineering Technology. In 1997 he co-founded a private oil and gas company and was director and manager for all operations. In this position he was instrumental in the purchase and development of a mature oil field in Northern Alberta. The total field production at time of purchase was less than 90 BOED and within one year it increased 20 fold to greater than 2,000 BOED. This was accomplished through workovers, production optimization, infill vertical and horizontal drilling and pipeline and facilities debottlenecking. In 2005 he founded Western Petroleum Management to help oil & gas companies enhance production from mature fields in western Canada. Since 2005 he has been managing operations and acting in an advisory role for a number of oil and gas companies located in Western Canada. Through WPM Bernie has been instrumental in controlling cost and adding value for producers, including managing assets for a private oil & gas company where production was increased 10 fold on specific properties and operating cost was reduced by over 60%.
Executive, Drilling & Completions, Operations
Dennis is a seasoned engineer with over 30 years of engineering and management experience in the petroleum industry. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1977, he worked at Amoco Corporation. In the late 1990’s, Dennis co-founded a private oil and gas company, Lyse Petroleum Ltd., which benefited from a number of significant successes including new pool discoveries and identifying bypassed pay in mature fields. Dennis was also successful in developing the company’s first field out of a single well that had been shut in for over ten years. The company was ultimately acquired by a US base petroleum company, Aspen Resources Group, where Dennis was promoted to the position of Vice President of Canada. During his career Dennis has acquired extensive knowledge in the areas of drilling, completions, operations and workovers. He has developed specialized expertise in the areas of horizontal drilling, completions and production optimization. This broad engineering background has complemented his property evaluations expertise when looking at mergers and acquisitions or the optimization of fields. Dennis has operated on the international scene for a number of years as president of Ridgestarr Petroleum Management Ltd. and WPM International (associated company of Western Petroleum Management) pursuing oilfield service contracts in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Quatar, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Kuwait and Trinidad-Tobago.
Geologist (P. Geol.), Project Management
Linden began his career in 1994 as a geologist in the industry. Since then he has worked with small companies specializing in property exploitation. Linden has good exposure to Alberta and Saskatchewan and has discovered an estimated 3MM BOE, identified estimated potential reserves of 10MM BBL of heavy oil, 12 BCF of gas and 1.5M BBL of light oil. Currently he manages drilling projects, geological mapping and property evaluations in the WCSB with Western Petroleum Management. Linden has also been involved with property evaluation and M&A activity. He is a member of APEGGA, CSPG, completed his MBA (2007) and an associate member of CMA Alberta.
Jim Podruski, M.Sc. Science
Senior Geologist
Jim is a seasoned exploration geologist with 30+ years of experience in the Oil & Gas industry. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from University of Manitoba in 1975 and a Master of Science from the University of Southern California in 1979. Jim has a very diverse background including 5 years as a senior petroleum geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada. His time with GSC included a regional geological study of the Canadian high artic and the Beaufort Sea for hydrocarbon potential. Jim has extensive experience in managing small and large exploration projects in both Canada and international.
John Charles (Chuck) Curtis Jr., B.Sc. Engineering Physics
Geophysics
Chuck is a veteran geophysicist and brings 30 years of experience to both Western Petroleum Management and WPM International. He graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics. Chuck first joined Amok Nuclear as a junior geophysicist and was later hired by Amoco Corporation as a senior geophysicist and then Pembina Corporation reporting to the chief geophysicist where he spent 15 years. With Pembina, Chuck worked on the company’s most important discoveries and made a significant contribution to the company’s value before it was sold. In 1997 he became the exploration manager for Lyse Petroleum Ltd. where he evaluated land holdings and adjacent lands, defined drilling locations on land holdings and planned layout and operated seismic acquisitions. Chuck has worked to develop new techniques and geophysical software in conjunction with a Canadian developer and has been directly responsible for the discovery of a number of substantial reef finds in Western Canada. Chuck has also worked on international prospects in India and Bolivia and most recently in Libya and Tunisia. Chuck’s achievements and his strive for excellence makes him a leader in the industry.
Completions
Jan has over 20 years of experience in the industry. She graduated from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1990 with a diploma in Petroleum Engineering Technology. She has worked for various sizes of companies with her career focused on Completions and Optimization of wells in Central Alberta through Southeast Saskatchewan. Most recently she was a co-founder of a private company, Medora Resources Inc. This company began with no production and grew through drilling operations to approximately 2000 bopd, prior to selling. Jan was directly responsible for all completions, workovers and well optimizations for this company. She is a currently an active member of ASET as a Certified Engineering Technologist.
Southern Production Superintendent
Carl has gained extensive experience in the Petroleum Industry over the last 26 plus years. His career has been focused on the completion, workover and production of Oil and Gas wells across Western Canada with extensive experience in oil (heavy and light) gas production. Carl has also spent substantial time in the design and construction of facilities and pipelines, analyzing production problems with existing fields, implementing solutions to resolve these problems and increasing overall production. Carl has a reputation in the industry as a team player and a person who can bring practical solutions to resolving difficult issues. Carl is a very valuable member of our team when it comes to enhancing production of mature fields.
Northern Production Superintendent
Luc began his operations career in the oil and gas industry over 17 years ago. Throughout his career, Luc has gained extensive experience within all facets of operations, starting out as an operator in remote areas to being in a supervisory role for the last 9 years. Luc worked throughout Northern and Central areas of Alberta and Saskatchewan which consisted of light oil, heavy oil and natural gas operations (sour and sweet facilities) with field and plant experience. Luc has worked with small, medium and large companies helping him understand the steps that need to be taken in order to get the job done. He brings a common sense approach to operations in order to enhance production and maximize revenue within new and mature assets.
Dustin Curtis, B.Sc. Geophysics, B.Sc. Computer Science
Geophysics
Dustin is a junior geophysicist who graduated from the University of Calgary in 2008. Since that time he has applied his expertise in exploration of the Cretaceous clastics and Devonian carbonates in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin as well as several international prospects in India and Peru. He has also developed several in-house computer applications ranging from three-dimensionally interpolating well logs across dozens of townships to organizing seismic in Google Earth. Dustin is also a member in-training with APEGGA, member of the CSEG and the SEG.
Construction and Environmental Superintendent
Bob has over 35 years of experience in the petroleum industry. His expertise spans drilling, completions, construction and environmental. He was instrumental in developing the G50 guidelines for land spreading when he was VP of AACE Environmental Services. He ran the field operations for the north Western area winter construction for Penn West for two years. They constructed and drilled 135 gas wells per year in muskeg. He supplied all consultants for JC International for the Kindersley area projects. JC drilled, completed, pipelined and electrified 180 wells per year. He developed 2 small oil companies in this area during this period. He was one of the construction managers for Access/Meg Energy twin pipeline and facilities which runs from Conklin to Edmonton. He completed the development of Oil Company in New Mexico where he put together a 5000 acre land base with 40 developed wells. He supervised all surveying, environmental planning and construction of leases and pipelines. Mr. Popick has a thorough understanding of all aspects of the Oil and Gas business to ensure successful operations and bottom line profitability.
Joe Ilg
Completions/Workovers
Joe has gained extensive experience in the Petroleum Industry over the last 25 years. His career started in the Valleyview area in the South Sturgeon sour gas processing plant. He then moved onto completion and workovers of oil and gas wells across Western Canada. Joe has also spent time in the design and construction of facilities and pipelines.
WPM Field Supervisors
WPM has a full complement of over 50 field supervisors with an average of 35 supervisors contracted on a daily basis out to the petroleum industry in Western Canada. These supervisors cover virtually all aspects of field supervisions including heavy construction, drilling, completion, facilities and operation.
