Just weeks after an unsuccessful attempt by an activist investor to unseat much of Crescent Point Energy Corp.’s board, the long-time president and CEO of the company, the largest oil producer in Saskatchewan, is now leaving.
On May 29, the company’s board and outgoing president and CEO Scott Saxberg announced that Craig Bryksa has taken over as interim president and CEO of Crescent Point. As part of the transition, Bryksa has also replaced Saxberg on the board as a director of the company.
In a release, the company said, “The board would like to express its gratitude to Mr. Saxberg, one of the founding members of Crescent Point, for his significant contributions to the Company since 2001.
“Under Mr. Saxberg’s leadership, Crescent Point has grown its production to over 180,000 boepd (barrels of oil equivalent per day) and evolved into one of the largest independent light crude oil producers in North America.
“Mr. Saxberg’s vision and commitment since inception resulted in the company controlling dominant positions within a high-quality asset base.
“Crescent Point’s operational success is built on an innovative culture with high employee satisfaction. The company is also a leader in the community, and through its environmental initiatives, has achieved emissions intensity approximately 40 percent lower than its Canadian peers.”
Saxberg has received notable recognition over the years, including being named to Globe and Mail’s Top 40 Under 40, Producer of the Year in Oilweek magazine and Saskatchewan Oil Man of the Year in 2011.
Bryksa, formerly vice president, engineering west with Crescent Point, is a professional engineer with a deep knowledge and understanding of the company’s asset base. Bryksa has been directly responsible for the operations of each of Crescent Point’s core areas throughout his 12 year history with the organization. Most recently, he was responsible for overseeing the operating activities for the company’s Shaunavon, Uinta Basin, North Dakota, Viking, Swan Hills and other Alberta resource plays, including the East Shale Duvernay.
The release noted, “During his time with Crescent Point, Mr. Bryksa has demonstrated strong leadership skills and has continually assumed increased responsibilities at the executive level.”
“I’m proud of what Crescent Point has accomplished,” said Saxberg. “We built a company from scratch to over 180,000 boepd and in doing so, we have rewarded our shareholders with $7.5 billion in dividends. After 15 years as the CEO, it’s time for me to move on and I’m confident and excited for Craig and the team to oversee Crescent Point’s long-term success.”
The release noted the company will prioritize key value drivers, including continuing improvement of the balance sheet, capital allocation, cost reductions, strong rates of return on capital employed and free cash flow generation. These key areas of focus are expected to improve Crescent Point’s sustainability and debt adjusted per share metrics.
“In addition to this management change, the board remains committed to its ongoing renewal process to ensure new ideas are recognized within a group of directors with diverse skillsets and experiences,” it added.
Under his leadership, Crescent Point was largely a perpetual acquirer, coming to dominate both southeast and southwest Saskatchewan’s oilfields. It gobbled up enormous numbers of junior oil companies, especially in southeast Saskatchewan. Until the summer of 2017, it almost never sold anything, but that changed over the last year as the company began selling off some assets.
While its initial and largest play has been in southeast Saskatchewan in the Viewfield Bakken and Torquay, the company came to be the dominant player the Shaunavon play in southwest Saskatchewan. With some action in the Viking play in west central Saskatchewan, Crescent Point made moves into Utah’s Utica play as well as Alberta’s East Duvernay.
For several of the most recent years, Crescent Point Energy almost continually led drilling activity throughout the entire country. Those rigs were, typically all but one or two, working in Saskatchewan. The company almost always running with the highest number of drilling rigs, even during the downturn when other companies all but shut down, or did shut down, their drilling programs.
The company’s actions in the downturn were noted by a letter Saxberg sent to vendors in December 2014, where he promised to keep crews working, but vendors would have to cut their rates or they would not be working for the company. This letter went out as oil plummeted to US$57 per barrel. WTI, and remained below that level for most of the interceding three years. Depending on the sector, most vendors saw one to four or more rounds of cuts, but true to his word, Saxberg did keep crews working.
With Saxberg at the helm, the company has also made numerous community donations, from several hockey arenas bearing their name, to one of the lead contributions to the STARS air ambulance program which helped bring it to Saskatchewan. In October 2014 it also made a $4.5 million donation to the new Weyburn hospital, although that project is yet to be built.
Saxberg is listed as a partner in the ownership of the Arizona Coyotes NHL team.
