The company proposing to build an oil refinery in the Stoughton area is planning a townhall meeting in the community for the afternoon of January the 19th, from 1:00 to 4:00.

Dominion Energy Processing Group first revealed plans for the project in preliminary meetings with the councils representing the Town of Stoughton and the RM of Tecumseh late last fall. The Canadian company was formed by its American parent, Quantum Energy, for the purpose of building the 40,000 barrel per day refinery in the Bakken oilfield, a few kilometres southwest of Stoughton.

StoughtonRefineryLandLocation Jan2017 GoogleMap
The yellow box indicates where the refinery would be located, in relation to Stoughton, Sask. (Photo from Google Maps)Few details about the project have been released since then, but public consultation is Dominion's next step.

"It'll be an open forum." the Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Energy, Keith Stemler said in an interview with Discover Weyburn. "Basically, I'll lay out the plan of the proposed project. I just want to meet the folks, get to know them, introduce myself to them, and allow them the opportunity to speak freely."

The meeting will be held at the Stoughton Legion Hall.

Stemler said the purpose of the meeting will be to share the company's, plans, and to hear if there are any concerns. "We don't really see any type of a negative type comment at this point in time," said Stemler. "However that's why I'm going. Just to make sure that if there's any concerns, that we do put it into an action form. And either I can answer those questions, or my engineering team can answer those questions."

This will be the first of two meetings, and will be aimed primarily at residents of Stoughton and area. "At this point in time, we don't want to really cloud the conversation with contractors." he added. "The contractors' meeting will be done on February the second."

Stemler said he has already heard from Saskatchewan contractors eager to learn more about the project. "There's been many contractors that have gotten in touch with us since December the 2nd, with overhwelming response, of course. And this is why we want to try to break up the two meetings. One for, you know, any concerns by local residents, and then go into a contractors meeting."

In addition to meeting people from the Stoughton area, Stemler is also trying to arrange a meeting with the Mayor of Weyburn, Marcel Roy for either the 19th or 20th. He has already been in touch with Roy, but is still in the process of firming up plans to meet with the mayor.

For more on the refinery project, CLICK HERE.