Rob Morgan, CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator. Photo courtesy AER

From the Canadian Energy Centre

By Will Gibson

Restructured AER aims a return to its technical roots

Rob Morgan’s introduction to the energy business was a summer job in the Lloydminster region in 1985, when the University of Saskatchewan chemical engineering student got up close and messy with heavy oil production at the wellhead.

“My work boots got very dirty very quickly. That’s the joke about working in heavy oil around Lloydminster. Once it’s on your boots, it never comes off,” says Morgan, a Saskatoon native.

“Working in the field was great because you were hands on with absolutely everything. It was just a fabulous experience.”

Oil stains on his steel-toed boots were not the only thing that stuck with Morgan, who spent the next four decades working in industry before being named CEO of the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) in February 2025.

Morgan wants to apply some of his hard-earned industry wisdom at the regulator following a 2024 review of the organization by a panel appointed by Premier Danielle Smith.

The panel found a need to return the regulator to its original purpose: resource conservation; orderly but continued economic growth; protection of people, communities, assets and the environment; and regulatory independence.

Returning the regulator to a form closer to its legacy roots will improve Alberta’s reputation as a stable, predictable, internationally competitive and rewarding destination for investment capital, the panel said in its final report.

Photo courtesy AER

“The whole world has changed since 2020,” says David Yager, an industry veteran and special advisor to the Premier who chaired the review panel.

New areas of focus including carbon capture and storage (CCS), emerging resources like lithium, and new opportunities like data centres require a modernized approach, Yager says.

“The question was whether or not the regulator was well suited for where the current government wants to take Alberta, and the answer is no, it wasn’t. But that’s changed,” he says.

“The conclusion everybody involved in the review came to is the AER is an independent regulator that needed more direct industry participation, so here we are.”

Prior to taking on the top job at the AER, Morgan retired as CEO of Strathcona Resources, a growing oil and gas producer in Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Along with hiring Morgan, the AER has brought on a reconstituted board of directors as part of implementing the panel’s recommendations.

Chairing the revamped board is Duncan Au, former CEO of CWC Energy Services, a contract drilling and well servicing company operating in Canada and the U.S. that was acquired by Precision Drilling in November 2023.

Just months into their new jobs, Au and Morgan wrote in the AER’s annual report about their new appreciation for the complexity of weighing the various elements of the regulator’s mandate.

“The narrative around energy development has taken on a new sense of urgency not only with a discussion of finding new markets and customers, but also how to grow and diversify Alberta’s role in those markets,” they wrote.

“From oil and gas to emerging opportunities in critical minerals, hydrogen, geothermal, and helium, the AER will be tasked to find the appropriate path among many competing priorities and perspectives.”

Through technological innovation, industry has already reduced environmental impacts, improved worker safety, and boosted economic returns, they wrote.

“It is clear we can continue to modernize our regulations and practices to keep pace with the next wave of technological development and carry out our core regulatory role: translating government legislation into practical regulation that safeguards the environment while ensuring Albertans continue to benefit from the wealth of resources in our province.”