I will continue. I think this discussion is rightly focused on the benefits and value that an information agency in Canada could provide and how we might get there. Judith and the other presenters have talked, I think, a great deal about the immediate shortcomings of Canadian data, and I would like to focus on imagining the future and the possibilities that such an agency could deliver on.
The first tenet, and I think grounding for this presentation, is that an aspiration of the Canadian energy information agency should be to lay the foundation for an energy-focused big data industry. That means building on the five dimensions of big data.
First is volume. How can we collect more types of data with longer histories?
Second is velocity. How can we collect it more frequently? How current is it? Is it from this month, this week, or today? Once it's collected, how can we make it easier and faster to access?
Third is variety. How do we find additional sources and types of data, and how do we make them available?
Fourth is veracity. Is it accurate and complete? Is it presented consistently?
By answering these questions, we get to the heart of the matter: the value that this data can provide and what is really the impact on the broader industry and our economy.
With respect to value, allow me to speak from the narrow perspective of our firm, RS Energy Group. We are a Calgary-based intelligence firm, and we serve many of the largest asset owners, financial institutions, and investors in the energy industry. Our business is built on providing insight and analysis to our clients that is based on a quantitative assessment of the industry. This means exploiting big datasets with the tools of data science and under the guidance of subject matter experts from geology, engineering, finance, and economics.
This type of work supports asset owners such as exploration and production companies and pipeline operators to make better business decisions about where to invest and how to position their companies. As a result, our domestic asset owners become more competitive amongst their global peers. This promotes employment and supports the sustainability of these businesses, many of whom are national champions on the global stage.
For our global investor clients, this work gives them greater transparency into the risks and opportunities associated with the investments they are making. This transparency reduces the cost of capital associated with Canadian opportunities and enhances the competitiveness of our assets.
To achieve these goals, we and our competitors rely on public and proprietary data sources. Those jurisdictions with greater endowments of data offer additional opportunities, while those with more poorly developed data resources are comparatively disadvantaged.
Over the last few years, we have seen a move to greater availability and quality of data in many jurisdictions including the U.K., Mexico, and Brazil. These countries compete directly with Canada for capital and in the energy landscape. Data is a national resource that is no different from our natural resources like energy, water, minerals, metals, or timber. If developed appropriately, it has the potential to yield enormous value for all Canadians. Our natural resource endowment provides leverage to the value of this data. Allow me to explain.
A small increase in understanding may result in a small change in the value of a barrel of oil or a thousand cubic feet of gas. However, this benefit is amplified by our country's vast natural resource base. Even a few cents of value per unit multiplied by the billions of barrels or billions of cubic feet of gas resource we possess could result in hundreds of millions of dollars of incremental value for all Canadians. This provides an incentive for businesses like ours to pursue new opportunities. It enables us to hire and retain skilled labour like computer and data scientists. It allows us to advance the tools of the new age—big data, artificial intelligence, and predictive analytics—which we in turn export to the world.
In addition, we have an existing endowment of data in this country. Provinces like Alberta have been collecting and making data available publicly for decades. However, differences between provinces' agencies suggest that a national agency is required to harness the potential value of this data resource. Such a move would begin to address the immediate shortcomings that Judith has described, uninformed debate, inferior decision-making, inefficient and costly data aggregation, data gaps and lags, etc. Think of this as basic infrastructure that smooths the flow of everything from commerce to social discourse.
Longer term, a national agency committed to delivering Canadian energy-focused big data and volume with velocity, and variety, and with veracity, offers additional value. Our national champions become more competitive. Our energy assets gain access to additional capital. We foster intellectual capacity in disciplines like computer and data science, and we allow new businesses and champions like ours to emerge.
Thank you.