BOARD CHAIR MESSAGE

On behalf of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, I am very pleased to present CAPP's eighth annual Stewardship Report.

This report is a tangible demonstration of our industry's commitment to Stewardship, both in terms of our focus on continuous improvement in our environmental, health and safety, and social performance and in openly and honestly reporting on our performance to our stakeholders.

That transparency means acknowledging when our performance has not met our stated goal of continuous improvement in all aspects of our measurement criteria. Such is the case this year. While we have achieved steady and ongoing improvements on many fronts, our 2006 data indicates that in some areas we must increase our efforts.

Specifically, greenhouse gas emissions totaling 91.5 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent were reported by 53 member companies in 2006, compared to 87 million tonnes reported by 54 in 2005. Also, after years of significant reductions in flaring volumes, we have reported an increase of 13 per cent in solution gas flaring, and 30 per cent increase in total gas flared. The primary contributor of solution gas continues to be Atlantic Canada, which contributed 40 per cent, while oil sands mining and upgrading activities account for the growth in total flaring.

However, our efforts have been more successful on other fronts. Total Recordable Injury Frequency and Lost Time Injury Frequency are at their lowest level since Stewardship reporting began. In addition, we've seen improvements in other areas, such as sulphur recovery, sulphur dioxide emissions and benzene emissions.

While our positive results in these areas are encouraging, our mission for all the measurement criteria remains the same: we must always do better. Our maxim of continuous improvement demands nothing less. It's a promise we've made to our stakeholders, and it's a promise our stakeholders are demanding that we keep. And we believe our commitment to the vision and ideals of Stewardship will ensure our future success towards reducing our environmental footprint and improving our health, safety and social performance while also helping to ensure a strong and vibrant industry.

Gordon Kerr
CAPP Board Chair