Inuvik conference has a waiting list
Dawn Ostrem
Northern News Services
Inuvik (Jun 04/01) - There are 30 names on a waiting list to set up exhibition booths at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex in late June.
Interest in the 2001 Inuvik Petroleum Show, being held June 21 and 22, has outgrown organizers' expectations. The number of booths has leapt from a predicted 45 to 70, there are 250 delegates slated to attend the conference and 30 speakers for it.
"Right now we are trying really hard to adjust for the numbers we are expecting," said co-ordinator Patricia Black, who is a self-employed communications consultant in Inuvik. "Probably next year what we will do is open up the curling rink."
This is the first conference and trade exhibition of this scale held in Inuvik and conference delegates include representatives from large oil and gas companies such as Petro-Canada, Chevron and Anderson.
The president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council and and president of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation will open the conference.
Fred Carmichael and Nellie Cournoyea will be joined by Finance Minister Joe Handley, Inuvik Mayor Peter Clarkson, Akita/Equtak Drilling president Rob Hunt and representatives of WesternGeco, Schlumberger and other companies visibly active in the Delta.
"We really wanted the opportunity to talk about that activity and the possibility of a pipeline,' Black explained.
"The audience is made up of people who are not really in the industry so it is at a level the lay-person can understand when we are talking about what the issues are and how it affects the community."
Black said about half of the exhibitors signed up are petroleum service companies, such as transportation or communication businesses. The other booths will be manned by municipality representatives, industry, government and land claims organizations.
Attendants are largely from Western Canada -- Alberta, B.C., the NWT and Yukon -- but Black said there have been inquiries from oil companies in Alaska with an interest in the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline.
"There is a need for information to get out, to give people in the region an opportunity to understand the issues," she added. "Up until this point there has not been a whole lot of information."
