Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
James Baker. Photo submitted
In recent years, the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show has presented its Southeast Saskatchewan Legends Award. Pipeline Online is publishing their biographies here. The oil show is June 5-6, with the Legends awards being presented on June 5. Tickets to attend the awards ceremony and luncheon can be purchased here (if you are an exhibitor, please do not use that link.) More information can be found at oilshow.ca.
James Baker was born in Swift Current in 1950, and graduated from St. Peter’s College in Muenster in 1969.
“I grew up in Swift Current,” he said. “I hitchhiked to Calgary when I was 19 and got a job on a seismic crew.”
He spent three summers mapping and sampling uranium at Baker, Lake, NWT, from 1971-74 as a geological assistant.
Baker completed a petroleum engineering technology program, majoring in geology, at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary in 1974. Upon completion of that program he became a mine foreman for Cassiar Asbestos Corp, managing a crew of 20 at the Cassier mine in northern B.C.
This led to a stint as project manager for Denison Coal Ltd., mapping, drilling and evaluating a coal prospect at Tumbler Ridge, B.C. from 1975-76.
He took a year touring New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific before taking on a job in 1978 as a geological consultant for Peregrine Enterprises, doing geological wellsite supervision throughout Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.
In 1981 Baker hired on with North Canadian Oils Limited (NCO), working as an operations geologist out of Calgary until 1988, responsible for all aspects of geological operations. He relocated to Regina from in 1988 where was general manager, Saskatchewan, for NCO. He was responsible for government relations and royalty issues, especially those relating to the deregulation of natural gas in the province. As well, he was senior manager for NCO’s Natural Gas Marketing and Power subsidiaries for Western Canada.
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In 1983 he marred Jeanne Chabot of Mankota. They had three children, Krista in 1985, Stefan in 1987 and Justin in 1989.
In 1994 he was a founding partner of Urban Forest Recylers, a paper recycling business located in Swift Current. It was sold to the Hill family 10 years later.
From 1994 to ‘97 he was vice president operations for Lateral Vector Resources, a publicly-traded oil and gas company based in Regina. It was focused on drilling in southeast Saskatchewan. Baker facilitated its sale to NCE Energy Trust.
From there he launched JP Baker Management in 1997, acting as a consultant for regulatory, pipeline, land, cogeneration, as well as exploration and development. His clientele included numerous Crown corporations, oil producers, First Nations and the Government of Saskatchewan. He operated under this banner from 1997 to 2004, and from 2009 to present. Projects included conceptual work on a proposed polygen plant at Belle Plaine, interprovincial power interconnects and remote monitoring systems for oil and gas. He had direct involvement in the natural gas deregulation process Saskatchewan in 1988-89, acted as spokesperson for regulatory issues on behalf of Small Explorers & Producers of Canada (SEPAC), and co-authored a report on the potential for a large-scale upgrader in Saskatchewan.
In 2004 Baker Started Churchill Energy as a private oil and gas exploration company and then completed an amalgamation with Dynamic Capital Corp and completed a reverse takeover. Churchill Energy Inc was an oil and gas exploration company, which traded on the TSX Venture Exchange and was sold to Zargon Energy Trust.
Baker has served on numerous industry boards, former director for Keystone Royalty Corp. a private oil trust based in Regina, currently sits on the Board of Kineticor Resource Corp. a private company based in Calgary. Kineticor is commissioning its Cascade 900MW natural gas fired power generation project at Edson, AB. He is a former director for Hanson Professional Service (Chicago, Ill), Nature Conservancy of Canada, Saskatchewan Chapter and SaskEnergy. Baker director and founder of Helium Evolution Inc. a helium exportation company.
In addition, he has been active in CAPP (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers) and SEPAC (Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada) and was past Chairman of the IPAC (CAPP predecessor) Saskatchewan Committee.
Two of the Baker children followed James into the oilpatch. Stevan is a partner in VP Energy Services of Kindersley, and Justin is a professional engineer with Element Technical Services, working out of Calgary. Krista is a director with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Finance in Regina.
“The oilpatch has been very good to me. I can’t say that enough,” he said.
James and Jeanne moved to Kelowna four years ago, but work with Helium Evolution keeps him busy and coming back to Saskatchewan on a regular basis.
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online0073 SaskWorks-Pipeline Online
- 0067 PFM SaskWorks Payroll Investment Plan0067 PFM SaskWorks Payroll Investment Plan
- 0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds0066 WBPC Promo video 30 seconds
- 0064 Estevan OTS0064 Estevan OTS
- 0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher0063 Turnbull Excavating hiring crusher
- 0062 TED_EPAC_Technology_300062 TED_EPAC_Technology_30
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket0058 Royal Helium Steveville opens anonymous rocket
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0052 Predator Inspections0052 Predator Inspections
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
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