The Discovery of the Oil and Gas Industry in Alberta

1. The Discovery of the Oil and Gas Industry in Alberta Composed by: Jocelyn Manlongat

2. The discovery of oil and gas in Alberta transformed the province’s economic, political, and social structures. As oil expertise became centered in Calgary, the city became a major destination for immigration from inside and outside the province. Alberta’s resources made what had been one of Canada’s poorest provinces into one of its richest. As a consequence, the province demanded a greater voice in the administration of the country

3. Early Discoveries 1788 Peter Pond saw native in Ft. McMurray area using gummy bitumen to repair canoes 1848 Nova Scotia uses oil for light 1857 First commercial oil well drilled Oil Springs, Ontario. Depth: 20m

4. Growth of an Industry 1880 Imperial Oil Formed 1883 Natural gas found in Medicine Hat by CP Rail 1902 Western Canada’s first well in Waterton Lakes, Alberta 1908 Imperial Oil opens first service station in Vancouver 1909 Well at Bow Island produces natural gas

5. 1914 Gas is discovered at Turner Valley; Alberta’s first oil rush

6. 1921 Representatives of Imperial Oil -- the Canadian subsidiary of American Standard Oil of New Jersey – noted that the Turner Valley area did not produce enough oil to warrant calling it a proven field.

7. 1917 Standard Oil of New Jersey acquired land leases for future exploration in the province. 1920 Turner Valley became known as "Hell’s Half Acre." Suffering from a lack of markets for excess gas, companies in the field burned it off in a giant coulee. It is estimated that companies wasted approximately 90 percent of the field’s gas in this manner

8. 1921 The American company had leased 369,537 acres. Between 1921 and 1924 Standard Oil took over the floundering Petroleum Products Company.

9. 1925 A pipeline was built to connect Turner Valley to Calgary.

10. 1928 Seven years of intensive research by Dr. Carl Clark, distinguished scientist and one of the first Scientific and Industrial Research Council of Alberta (SIRCA) employees, on methods of separating bitumen from oil sands, using laboratory facilities and a small Edmonton pilot plant—culminates in the application of a patent.

11. 1930 • The provincial government began to establish measures to reduce wastage in the field. • Research aimed at eliminating water and mineral matter from crude bitumen at northern pilot plant near Fort McMurray. 1931-32 • Alberta government initiates 5% royalty tax • Investigations aimed at further improvement in bitumen recovery result in publication of the paper "Hot Water Separation of Bitumen from Alberta Bituminous Sands" by K.A. Clark and D.S. Pasternack, in Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, a chemical journal of worldwide circulation.

12. 1934 The company began drilling and struck oil in 1936. 1938 Alberta Government forms EUB to police production practices 1939, Seventy wells that produced an annual revenue of $10 million. 1945 Oil found in Saskatchewan

13. Post-Leduc Oil and Gas Exploration and Development • The post World War II oil boom began on 13 February, 1947 Leduc, south of Edmonton. • The Leduc oilfield was a 200-million-barrel discovery and further exploration uncovered the existence of a large oil field in the area.

14. 1940 and 1950 American and British oil companies entered Alberta 1950 Significant gas reserves were also discovered near Calgary 1951 Alberta raises Royalties to 16.5%

15. 1953-1957 Pipelines built across Canada for US export 1960 OPEC formed 1973 The federal government also reacted quickly to the crisis by imposing a freeze on oil prices. 1975 Canada was in a serious trade deficit position in the oil industry.

16. 1980 Clark’s first budget promised a $4 increase per barrel in oil prices in 1980. 1981 Alberta cut the flow of oil to eastern Canada by five percent. 1982 Despite the concessions that Lougheed received from the federal government, complex factors caused Alberta’s oil boom to collapse.

17. The Expansion of Alberta’s Oil and Gas Economy

18. Oil and Gas Industry by Well Count in the NADC Region The number of wells producing oil and gas rose steadily from 1990 to 2002 indicating a strong industry capable of overcoming the swings in commodity prices on the international market.

19. November 28, 2007 • Flames and smoke rise above Enbridge’s oil pipeline fire that killed two workers near Enbridge Energy Partners terminal in Clearbrook, Minn. In April 2007, the same pipeline ruptured in Saskatchewan. • Enbridge has reported two other leaks in its Canadian lines since 2001

20. August 26, 2008 • The Alberta government projects an $8.5-billion budget surplus for the fiscal year. The figure is $7 billion more than the surplus projected in the April budget, due to oil and gas revenues that exceeded expectations. • The government projects oil prices to average $119.25 a barrel over the fiscal year, up from the $78 a barrel projected in the budget. November 18, 2008 • The announcement comes as oil prices have slid below $55 a barrel, down from $147 a barrel in July.

21. 2009 • Baytex Energy Trust agreed to buy heavy-oil assets in southwest Saskatchewan and natural-gas properties in west-central Alberta for C$93 million. • The assets will produce the equivalent of about 3,000 barrels of oil a day over the rest of 2009, according to a Marketwire statement today.

22. References: • http://www.nadc.gov.ab.ca/industry/NADC-Area/NADC%20Oil%20&%20Gas/Oil%20and%20Gas%20in%20the%20NADC%20area.pdf • http://www.abheritage.ca/abresources/history/oilsands_timeline_text.html • http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=picture+of+Alberta+oil&sa=N&start=21&ndsp=21 • http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&um=1&q=picture+of+alberta+oil+and+gas+in+water&sa=N&start=714&ndsp=21 • http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/oil.html • http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/turnervalley.html • http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/pipelines.html • http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/energycrisis.html • http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/calgary/FRAME1947.html • http://www.edukits.ca/petroleum/documents/webquest.pdf