The Global Energy Show has been going on for 55 years in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In this episode, we chat with Nix Main, Senior Vice President with DMG Events, about the show's history, its mission, and what it means to be Canadian in the energy sector.
00:00:00.000We're here with Nix Main, Senior Vice President with DMG Events at the global, I guess it's the
00:00:06.860energy show nowadays. We were just talking about how far the show goes back in its various
00:00:12.280iterations over the years and maybe you're involved with it. Yeah, Sean, thanks for having
00:00:19.340me and it's a pleasure to talk to you and it is important to reminisce, I think, about the
00:00:24.580Global Energy Show Canada as we call it today. But goodness, having a history here in the
00:00:31.860city of Calgary going back more than 55 years, we get asked that question a lot and as the
00:00:39.260DMG Events, you know, we see ourselves as a steward of this event because it is something
00:00:45.620that's really important here to the history of Calgary. And our mission as a show remains
00:00:53.600very much what it was when this show first started and through its different name changes
00:00:59.520as we were chatting before the interview, is a way of showcasing a sector that a lot of
00:01:06.100times really gets either, it's hard to shine a light to see what's going on in the energy
00:01:11.880sector and more so what's going on here in Alberta and some of the really amazing stories
00:01:18.460that are happening in the energy sector that have worldwide implications and what those
00:01:25.260opportunities look like, what politics look like and all the different policies and different
00:01:31.600things that are being talked about here present day over the three days of this year's show
00:01:36.840in 2024. Well, we were joking that we wound up in the emissions reductions. Seems pretty ironic
00:01:45.460for a media outlet, you know, being full of hot air. So is this a new kind of focus for the show?
00:01:53.640Yeah, emissions reduction. We're fortunate, you know, this area and not lost on me, I just realized
00:01:59.900that's where we are here. But yeah, our friends and great partners at the Methane Emissions Reduction
00:02:07.980Alberta here have, this is the third year that they've hosted this section of the show and it has
00:02:14.600been growing, you know, really balancing, you know, the call and the need for more energy,
00:02:22.780more Alberta energy, more Canadian energy and also the technologies that are emerging to reduce
00:02:30.280emissions in this particular case here at the theatre from Methane.
00:02:34.780Right. And we had the Premier talk today and Environment Minister Schultz and they were talking about the
00:02:40.460innovation that Alberta brings to the table and how we're respected around the globe, not just for our energy
00:02:49.600production, but also for things like emissions production. Well, yeah, I think it's those technologies and it's
00:02:57.140great to have the Premier here and Minister Schultz and Minister Jean here today as well, you know, talking about some of those
00:03:05.120technologies that are homegrown. A good friend of ours and the show here, Kevin Byrne, put it really well that, you know,
00:03:13.300here in Canada, we've got such a wonderful diversity of sectors, particularly in oil and gas. I mean, look, we've got the oil sands,
00:03:22.300you know, truck and shovel, we've got traditional oil, we've got unconventional, we've got offshore, we've got all those technologies. What country in the world has that breadth and variety, all kind of
00:03:26.300smashed together and that's alone in oil and gas is what you see and those opportunities to expand our production of energy and, you know, a lot of the conference and what the Premier was talking and alluded to today is what's our response to the
00:03:45.300is what's our responsibility as an energy rich nation to help export that to different parts of the world that are calling for Canadian energy?
00:04:03.300Well, you know, the irony is, is when I went to my first National Petroleum Show within 2000, 1999, the conversation then was around peak oil and running out of oil and how were we going to maintain, you know, security of supply.
00:04:20.300And now the conversation has kind of almost switched, like now we have all this energy, we have all these reserves, you know, how are we going to get them to the rest of the world?
00:04:28.300It's a big challenge. And I mean, we know, as you mentioned, you know, Minister Jean, and we talk a lot about that here in Alberta, you know, being landlocked and issues with the pipelines.
00:04:41.300Some great meetings happening this year on the topic of energy corridors, not just for oil and gas, but for electricity.
00:04:51.300You know, there's been there's talks at this year's conference about AI. I was just in a conversation about quantum computing.
00:05:00.300We all know that there is demand for new technologies, transportation like that are going to require mass amounts of electrification.
00:05:09.300So where is this energy going to go, whether that's for export from Canada, but also for utilization here in our own country and looking forward to see how are we creating that capacity and thinking ahead and getting that message out to your average citizen.
00:05:28.300That's a big, you know, getting back to the beginnings of this show, it's really important to us that the discussions can make their way through to media outlets such as the Western Standard and get down to people that have a vested interest because we all do have a vested interest in energy because it touches so many things, doesn't it, in our daily lives?
00:05:49.300Absolutely. That's what Peter Galahad used to tell me. We're the owners. We own it. It's ours. We have a responsibility to develop it and to develop it properly.
00:06:05.300Would you say that the industry has recovered since the pandemic? What about the show in terms of the size and the number of exhibitors and visitors and maybe some of the deal flow that goes on here?
00:06:18.300Yeah. I mean, I look at it a couple of ways. So we've certainly since I'll say those, you know, the pandemic, but even just prior to that, as we look at the big downturn here that, you know, myself 10 years now here in Alberta, that we that we've lived as Albertans following 2014, 2015.
00:06:39.540We started to see a bit of recovery through the pandemic from we reopened the show in 2022, and this is our third edition since the pandemic.
00:06:49.120We've seen growth each year, year on year in important metrics, number of exhibitors, number of attendees coming each year as well.
00:06:58.380And then just the deal flow, as you mentioned, new project announcements is something we weren't sure if we were going to be seeing how many of those both in oil and gas, but also exciting announcements in in hydrogen and and other petrochemical announcements and others that we've been seeing here in the province.
00:07:19.180I know without spilling any beans, because I know that tomorrow and throughout the next couple of days of the show, there will be more fresh project announcements to look out for.
00:07:30.000They're going to be made right here at the show as well.
00:07:31.680So it's a bit of a rising tide. So, you know, the sector, there's there's more money, more deal flow happening.
00:07:39.100We try as organizers to structure the show, to follow where that where that deal flow is going and structure the content and the exhibition around that and make that a conduit where we can organize that supply chain to do our part.
00:07:54.600You know, we're three days. Our job as a show is to is to try and supercharge the industry as much as possible, get as much discussion going as possible and look at it like a day after effect.
00:08:08.060So come Friday this week, we stop, we get with our executive committee and do an after meeting and say, you know, what has changed?
00:08:16.020And did we hit some of those goals of drawing attention to to what you're talking about is what what's next year going to look like and start planning that already as of this Friday, believe it or not.
00:08:28.100Excellent. I do. I do believe you. I know.
00:08:31.000So you mentioned that you've been in Alberta 10 years from Ontario.
00:08:38.060Now, so I'll have to I'll have to answer that by bringing in my wife, who's also from Ontario, that joined me out here in Alberta.
00:08:46.480And when I first came out here, it really was I think about that a lot because it's some of that messaging now is that Alberta is that land of opportunity.
00:08:57.460And when I first got here, it took a little while to figure that out, being from Ontario, exactly what it means from an opportunity here in this province.
00:09:07.480And it's not just about jobs or making more money and trying to get things from an individualistic standpoint.
00:09:15.700What immediately, you know, got my heart here was, you know, you're on the side of the road with a flat tire, people pull over.
00:09:23.420I'm the worst for it now when I go back to Ontario.
00:09:26.360And that's not the slag, but I'll start a conversation in the line at the grocery store, because that's just what we do here, because, you know, we've got a real shared fraternity, I think, as Albertans.
00:09:40.740And we've got an optimistic outlook through some, you know, a lot of challenges that we've had.