Jim Livingstone

Jim Livingstone - BA 1973.   The oil and gas industry has changed significantly since I started my career with Gulf Canada 35 years ago. Geologists would identify oil and gas plays and engineers would drill and develop them. Today there is another dimension and that is looking at the "economics" of each oil and gas opportunity. Important technical terms such as permeability, porosity, and drilling rate are now mentioned in the same sentence with economic terms such as IRR (internal rate of return) or ROCE (return on capital employed). Economics is as important today in determining capital budgets as porosity and permeability were 35 years ago. 

Many Presidents and CEOs of independent oil and gas companies are now moving to raising more private than public capital. To raise capital, private or public, you have to present the economics on your oil and gas plays to the investor. Majoring in economics at Dalhousie has greatly helped my career and allowed me to raise millions of dollars in both the public and private capital markets. Gone are the days where you have to be an engineer or a geologist to be the CEO of an energy company. I am grateful to the Dalhousie Department of Economics for the education and training I received. This has helped me to become the owner of my own two companies: RC Energy Inc. in Canada and RC Energy Montana Ltd. in the United States. It also allowed me to see the "big picture view" that inspired me to become the sole inventor of nearly thirty drilling and completion patents around the world.