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Garth has experience in providing legal advice in the international, offshore, frontier and oil sands areas, including:

The Syncrude Project;

The Fort Hills Mining, Pipeline and Upgrader Project;

The MacKay River In Situ Oil Sands Project;

The MacKay River Expansion Project;

The Value Creation Inc/BP Canada Terre de Grace Partnership;

The Hibernia Project;

The Terra Nova Project;

The White Rose Project; and

The Hebron – Ben Nevis Project.

Led the Gowlings Oil Sands Practice Group in representing an Alberta in-situ oil sands developer in the structuring of a joint venture relationship and finalizing of agreements to develop and operate an in-situ oil sands project;

Negotiated and drafted purchase and sale agreements and related documentation to facilitate the acquisition and divestiture of oil sands leases and other assets;

Experienced in the formation and management of joint ventures and the development, operations and the future decommissioning of the projects undertaken by the co-venturers;

Built and managed an Oil Sands Practice Group within a large integrated oil and gas company that was responsible for providing a full range of legal services to the Fort Hills Mining, Pipeline and Upgrader Project, the MacKay River In Situ Oil Sands Project and the MacKay River Expansion Project;

Experienced in Aboriginal stakeholder relations, including the negotiation of co-operation agreements with First Nations Groups;

Possesses a clear and firm understanding of the regulatory processes and the legislation that apply to the initial development, ongoing operations and eventual de-commissioning of in situ oil sands projects;

Process oriented, and as such, created a full slate of proforma contracts, on a project-by-project basis, to be used by supply chain management; also established processes and procedures to be followed by supply chain management and the Oil Sands Practice Group when dealing with contractors and suppliers;

Familiar with the contract bidding process, including the negotiation of a lump sum contract with Chinese engineering and construction companies for the MacKay River Expansion Project;

Knowledgeable with respect to the bitumen and diluent pipeline transportation systems available within and outside Alberta, as well as transportation agreements;

Extensive experience in the area of oil sands project production operations, as well as drilling;

Cognizant of the importance of reporting clearly, regularly and succinctly to senior management;

Philosophically risk averse, and therefore attempts to minimize risk to the developer in all contracts with contractors and suppliers.

Garth recently completed a second, and final term, as a director of Alberta Alpine Ski Association.

• The Canadian Institute’s 10^th Oil Sands Symposium, Calgary, Conference co-chair, November 2011 
• Bringing Bitumen To Market, Energy@Gowlings, May 2011
• Release of the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Panel Report and the Integrated Oil Sands Environment Monitoring Plan, Environment@Gowlings, August 2011
• Oil Sands Extraction Technologies: Perception and Production, Energy@Gowlings, March 2011
• International Investment in Alberta Oil Sands, November 2010
• Oil Sands 2010 Trending, August 17, 2010
• Upgrading Bitumen in Alberta: The Debate Intensifies, July 2010
• The Canadian Institute’s 9^th Oil Sands Symposium, Calgary, Conference co-chair, November 2010
• The Canadian Institute’s 8^th Oil Sands Symposium, Calgary, Conference chairman, November 2009
• Gussow Geoscience Conference, Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. Panel member for the topic: “Governance and shifting Responsibility: Shareholder Activision, Disclosure Rules and Evolving Directors Role”, Banff, Alberta, October 2009
• Co-chaired the Canadian Institute’s Tailings Management and Reclamation conference on “Directive 74 and the Implications for Industry”, 2009