The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity.
Our next company is Sonoro Energy Ltd. (TSXV:SNV), which has headquarters in Calgary. The company is focused on oil exploration and production in Canada and abroad.
Greg Renwick, the new CEO of Sonoro Energy recently sat down with The Market Online to speak about his experience, the company and its projects moving forward.
TMO: Greg, why don’t you tell us a little about your background for our newer audience members.
Renwick: I grew up in Ontario, Canada. I attended school at Western, then down to Dalhousie for my master’s in geology, and then began my first job with Mobil Oil.
From there I moved to Calgary and spent the next 25 years with Mobil. I moved around a lot, all over the world and gained a technical background in geology and geophysics. That progressed into more technical management where I was a geophysical manager for Mobil’s East Coast operation along the Gulf Coast of the United States and Eastern Canada.
Eventually, I moved into an exploration manager’s position in Indonesia and the last few years with Mobil, I was pretty much doing business development. Running teams that were looking at Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union. It was a great time to learn more about these regions and Mobil was quite successful in that expansion.
After Mobil, I actually moved to the Middle East and worked for the government of Kuwait.
That’s where I first met Sara Akbar, Sonoro Energy’s chairman, and I spent three years with Sarah working in business development. After that, I joined a couple of public and private companies working in the Middle East and North Africa, including Dana Gas and Centurion Energy International. After about six years in the Middle East, I returned to North America and took a position as a CEO of East West Petroleum.
TMO: From what I have read, the company is focused on taking your experience, your knowledge and competitive advantage through proven innovative multilateral horizontal well technology, to the international stage in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Tell us about your approach to the MENA region and how you are continuing the path already set by Sonoro Energy?
Renwick: The first point I would like to make is our board and I have a lot of experience in the Middle East and North Africa. I’ve worked extensively, technically, and through business development roles.
Sara Akbar, is a very well-known figure in the oil and gas space. She has had a successful career in the private sector and also working for the government of Kuwait. We see opportunities in a number of countries, partly based on the fact that they don’t have access to Western technology. It hasn’t been brought into the countries yet, so there’s a lot more work to be done.
With Sara’s connections in that area and our relationships, we see a lot of opportunity for Sonoro Energy going forward.
TMO: The focus for the company is exciting. I understand you will be focusing more on the Middle East area in the MENA region, and you also have some Canadian production that has given you a stable cash flow stream at this time. Can you expand on this for us?
Renwick: Let’s start with Canada. We are a producing company and operator in Saskatchewan. We have some heavy oil production, which is relatively new to me. I haven’t worked with heavy oil in my past but, it appears to be a successful operation. We are generating positive cash flow and we’re looking for other opportunities in Canada as well. Right now, we’re looking at an opportunity in Alberta that may mature into something. Our roots are there of course. We want to maintain a presence in Canada, and we view it as a place for sustaining our cash flow.
Back to the Middle East and North Africa. Specific countries of interest for us are Iraq, southern Iraq and Libya. Sara Akbar has been in those countries recently. She has been visiting the national oil companies. She has been understanding the processes that they’re using to attract Western companies to come and help them.
As an example, the Iraqi National Oil company was in Washington last week where, I believe, they had a delegation. Meeting oil and gas companies and expanding on what their offerings are going to be in the future. There’s certainly opportunity and the host countries are quite anxious to see more Western involvement.
TMO: Greg, is there anything else that you would like to share with our viewers today?
Renwick: I’d like to share my excitement of what the future holds. We have a great team. It’ll take a bit of time to get these larger projects going. I’m confident that with the team we have, the future looks bright.
You can find Sonoro Energy Ltd. on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SNV or head to its website sonoroenergy.com for more information.
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