Gems of Geoscience

Mike Blair, P.Geo., doing demonstration for classroom

I was born and raised in Regina where my parents still live. I also have a younger brother, who works in the mining industry.

Growing up in Regina, I spent many weekends and holidays at my grandparents’ farm just south of Melville.  In my teen years, I focused on speed swimming with the Regina Optimist Dolphins swim club. I enjoyed every minute of the practising, racing and travelling around the country with the club.

I attended K-12 schooling in Regina before enrolling at the University of Regina in general science classes.    In my first year after taking the Geology 102 class with Dr. Stephen Bend, P.Geo., I was hooked and began focusing on geology.

I quickly realized that I really enjoyed understanding why things are the way they are and geology, being very much a hybrid science, offered me the ability to study and then apply learnings in biology, chemistry and physics in the context of geology.

I received my bachelor’s degree in Geology in 1999 from the University of Regina. In 1999, I started a master’s thesis project with Dr. Kathy Bergman working on defining the stratigraphy of the Middle Jurassic Gravelbourg Formation in southern Saskatchewan, characterizing the changes in Gravelbourg equivalent geology between oil fields in southwest Saskatchewan and those in the Wapella area of eastern Saskatchewan.

While finishing my master’s thesis, I took a geologist job at Talisman Energy in January 2001 and moved to Calgary. I left Talisman one year later to begin working at Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL).

One of my many great career memories was working at a site in east Calgary logging cores for CNRL during the delineation coring phase of what is now the operating Horizon mine project north of Fort McMurray. We had a great group of geologists who managed to finish logging 26 miles of core over one winter drilling season, which we called the “marathon of core.” I left CNRL in 2009 after working in many areas of Western Canada and started with Crescent Point Energy.

I have worked in several roles at Crescent Point as an exploration and new ventures geologist and in 2019 I became the Vice-President of Exploration and New Ventures. I now get to lead an excellent geoscience team focusing on integrating petrophysical logging data, seismic data and core data into geologic models while collaborating with other disciplines to calibrate oil and gas production data and other engineering data.

Prior to focusing on a career in oil and gas, I worked as a field assistant in northern Saskatchewan and northwestern Ontario during two separate summer field seasons on the Canadian Shield. My time spent in northern Saskatchewan, first with my dad and brother on a fishing trip, and subsequently as a student field assistant, left a lasting impression.

Since 2001, I have returned to the Canadian Shield in northern Saskatchewan at least once per year for fishing trips. I have my son hooked on the area. He once told me, following a fishing trip, “When I grow up, I want to live in La Ronge.” I just love the endless outcrops and lakes on the shield and seeing the area from a float plane is unforgettable.

Geologists usually get asked about their favourite rock or mineral. In my case, I favour a collection of rocks and minerals.  My wife is a teacher and over the years I built up a collection of samples that I would take into elementary school classrooms for a hands-on rocks and minerals class, usually with Grade 3 classes.

Prior to COVID-19, this grew to include several of our geoscience staff at Crescent Point Energy who also volunteered their time and contributed samples to the school visits. The enthusiasm from the kids and teachers during our school visits always reminds me that studying and working in geoscience is a gift, which is very rewarding and nice to consider on those busy, stressful days we all have from time to time.