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La industria petrolera canadiense surgió paralelamente a la de Estados Unidos . Sin embargo, debido a la geografía , geología , recursos y patrones de asentamiento únicos de Canadá , se desarrolló de diferentes maneras. La evolución del sector petrolero ha sido un factor clave en la historia de Canadá y ayuda a ilustrar cómo el país se volvió bastante distinto de su vecino del sur.
Aunque la industria convencional del petróleo y el gas en el oeste de Canadá está madura, los recursos petroleros del Ártico y en alta mar del país se encuentran principalmente en las primeras etapas de exploración y desarrollo. Canadá se convirtió en un gigante productor de gas natural a fines de la década de 1950 y ocupa el segundo lugar, después de Rusia , en exportaciones; el país también alberga las instalaciones de extracción de líquidos de gas natural más grandes del mundo . La industria comenzó a construir sus vastas redes de oleoductos en la década de 1950, comenzando así a desarrollar los mercados nacionales e internacionales a lo grande.
A pesar de miles de millones de dólares de inversión, su betún —especialmente dentro de las arenas petrolíferas de Athabasca— sigue siendo un recurso parcialmente explotado. Para el 2025, este y otros recursos petroleros no convencionales —las fronteras del norte y mar adentro y los recursos de crudo pesado en Occidente— podrían colocar a Canadá en los primeros puestos entre las naciones productoras y exportadoras de petróleo del mundo . En una reevaluación de los recursos globales de 2004 , la EIA de los Estados Unidos colocó las reservas de petróleo canadienses en segundo lugar; solo Arabia Saudita tiene mayores reservas probadas . En 2014, la EIACanadá ocupa ahora el tercer lugar en reservas mundiales de petróleo con alrededor de 175 mil millones de barriles, mientras que Arabia Saudita ocupa el segundo lugar con alrededor de 268 mil millones de barriles y Venezuela ocupa el primer lugar con alrededor de 297 mil millones de barriles de reservas. [1] [2]
Muchas historias que rodean el desarrollo temprano de la industria del petróleo son coloridas. La recolección de parches de petróleo involucró a aventureros rudos , el fraude ocasional, innovaciones importantes y, al final, un éxito de clase mundial. La producción de petróleo canadiense es ahora una parte vital de la economía nacional y un elemento esencial del suministro mundial . Canadá se ha convertido en un gigante energético.
Orígenes tempranos [ editar ]
En su blog titulado "Canadian Oil and Gas: The First 100 Years", Peter McKenzie-Brown dijo que "los primeros usos del petróleo se remontan a miles de años atrás. Pero aunque la gente ha conocido y utilizado el petróleo durante siglos, Charles Nelson Tripp fue el primer canadiense en recuperar la sustancia para uso comercial. Era el año 1851; el lugar, Enniskillen Township , cerca de Sarnia , en la actual Ontario (en ese momento Canada West ). Fue allí donde Tripp comenzó a incursionar en los misteriosos lechos de goma de mascar cerca de Black Creek. Esto llevó a la incorporación de la primera compañía petrolera en Canadá ".[3]
" El 18 de diciembre de 1854, el Parlamento instituyó la Compañía Internacional de Minería y Manufactura, con CN Tripp como presidente. La carta facultaba a la compañía para explorar lechos de asfalto y manantiales de aceite y sal, y fabricar aceites, pinturas de nafta y fluidos en combustión". [3]
"International Mining and Manufacturing no fue un éxito financiero, pero el asfalto de Tripp recibió una mención honorífica por excelencia en la Exposición Universal de París de 1855. Varios factores contribuyeron al fracaso de la operación. La falta de carreteras en el área hizo que el movimiento de maquinaria y equipo al sitio extremadamente difícil. Y después de cada fuerte lluvia, el área se convirtió en un pantano y los lechos de goma hicieron que el drenaje fuera extremadamente lento. Esto se sumó a la dificultad de distribuir los productos terminados ". [3]
Primero en América del Norte [ editar ]
Según Peter McKenzie-Brown, "[cuando] uando James Miller Williams se interesó y visitó el sitio en 1856, Tripp descargó sus esperanzas, sus sueños y las propiedades de su empresa, ahorrándose un lugar en la nómina como terrateniente . El ex constructor de carruajes formó JM Williams & Company en 1857 para desarrollar las propiedades de Tripp. Además de asfalto, comenzó a producir queroseno ". [3] "Había agua superficial estancada y plagada de algas en casi todas partes. Para asegurar un mejor agua potable, Williams cavó (en lugar de perforar) un pozo a unos pocos metros de su planta". [3] En 1858, a una profundidad de 4,26 metros (14,0 pies) [4], el pozo encontró petróleo. Se convirtió en el primer comercialpozo de petróleo en América del Norte, recordado como el pozo Williams No. 1 en Oil Springs, Ontario . [5] The Sarnia Observer and Lambton Advertiser , citando el Woodstock Sentinel , publicado en la página dos el 5 de agosto de 1858: [6] Fueron 12 años después de perforar el primer pozo de petróleo en el asentamiento de Bakú (Bibi-Heybat) en 1846 en Península de Apsheron.
Se acaba de hacer un descubrimiento importante en el municipio de Enniskillen. Poco tiempo después, una parte, al cavar un pozo al borde del lecho de Betún, golpeó una veta de aceite, que combinándose con la tierra forma el Betún.
“Algunos historiadores cuestionan el reclamo de Canadá sobre el primer campo petrolero de América del Norte , argumentando que el famoso pozo Drake de Pensilvania fue el primero del continente. Pero hay pruebas que respaldan a Williams, entre las que se destaca que el pozo Drake no entró en producción hasta el 28 de agosto de 1859. El punto controvertido podría ser que Williams encontró petróleo sobre el lecho rocoso mientras que el pozo de petróleo del "coronel" Edwin Drake dentro de un depósito de lecho rocoso ". [3]
"No sabemos exactamente cuándo Williams abandonó su refinería de Oil Springs y transfirió sus operaciones a Hamilton. Sin embargo, estaba operando allí ciertamente en 1860. Los anuncios de los espectadores ofrecían petróleo de carbón a la venta a 16 centavos por galón por cantidades de 4,000 galones estadounidenses (15,000 L) a 100.000 galones estadounidenses (380.000 L) ". [3]
En 1859 Williams poseía 800 acres de tierra en Oil Springs. Williams se reincorporó en 1860 como Canadian Oil Company. [7] Su empresa producía aceite, lo refinaba y comercializaba productos refinados. Esa combinación de operaciones califica a Canadian Oil como la primera compañía petrolera integrada del mundo .
"La exploración en los bosques apartados del condado de Lambton se aceleró con el primer pozo que fluía en 1860: los pozos anteriores habían dependido de bombas manuales. El primer pozo brotó el 16 de enero de 1862, cuando se encontró petróleo a 158 pies (48 m). brotó sin control a niveles reportados tan altos como 3,000 barriles por día, eventualmente cubriendo las distantes aguas del lago St. Clair con una película negra ". [3] [8] Existe una controversia histórica sobre si fue John Shaw u otro perforador de petróleo llamado Hugh Nixon Shaw quien perforó este pozo de petróleo; el artículo del periódico que se cita a continuación identifica a John Shaw. [9]
La noticia del brote se difundió rápidamente y se informó en el Hamilton Times cuatro días después: [10]
Tengo el tiempo justo para mencionar que hoy a las once y media de la mañana, el Sr. John Shaw, de Kingston, CW, sacó una vena de petróleo en su pozo, a una profundidad de ciento cincuenta y ocho pies. en la roca, que llenó bien la superficie (cuarenta y cinco pies hasta la roca) y los conductores [sic] en el transcurso de quince minutos, e inmediatamente comenzó a fluir. Difícilmente se acreditará, pero sin embargo tal es el caso, que el enorme flujo actual de petróleo no puede estimarse en menos de dos mil barriles por día, (veinticuatro horas), de aceite puro, y la cantidad aumenta cada hora. Vi a tres hombres en el transcurso de una hora, llenar cincuenta barriles del flujo de petróleo, que se escapa en todas direcciones; el piso presenta la apariencia de un mar de aceite. La emoción es intensay cientos se apresuran desde todos los rincones para ver este pozo extraordinario.
"Siguiendo el ejemplo de Williams, prácticamente todos los productores importantes en la infancia del negocio del petróleo se convirtieron en su propia refinería . Siete refinerías operaban en Petrolia, Ontario en 1864 y 20 en Oil Springs; juntas, procesaban unos 80 metros cúbicos de petróleo por día. . " [3] También había refinerías en Wyoming , donde el Great Western Railway (más tarde Grand Trunk Railway ) podía llevar petróleo al mercado. [11]
"En 1865, el petróleo se vendía a 70 dólares el metro cúbico (11,13 dólares el barril). Pero los campos de Ontario entregaron demasiado y demasiado rápido, y en 1867 el precio había caído a 3,15 dólares el metro cúbico (0,50 dólares el barril). En 1866 el petróleo la industria en Oil Springs se detuvo abruptamente y la población se disparó de la noche a la mañana: en 1870, Oil Springs y Bothwell eran campos muertos, pero siguieron otros auges cuando los perforadores explotaron formaciones más profundas y nuevos campos ". [3] [12] Muchos perforadores locales se trasladaron varios kilómetros al norte de Petrolia, donde las operaciones comenzaron en serio después de que el auge de Oil Springs disminuyó. [12]
"Aunque la industria tuvo un comienzo prometedor en el este, el estatus de Ontario como un importante productor de petróleo no duró mucho. Canadá se convirtió en un importador neto de petróleo durante la década de 1880. La dependencia del vecino Ohio como proveedor de petróleo crudo aumentó después de que el automóvil entró en Canadá en 1898 ". [3]
Perforadores canadienses [ editar ]
Según McKenzie-Brown, "los canadienses desarrollaron experiencia petrolera en esos primeros días. El" petrolero "o perforador canadiense llegó a ser valorado en todo el mundo". [3]
" Los perforadores de Petrolia desarrollaron el método canadiense de perforación con pértiga-herramienta, que fue especialmente útil en nuevos campos donde las formaciones rocosas eran un tema de conjetura. La técnica canadiense era diferente del método estadounidense con herramienta de cable . Ahora obsoleto, la perforación con herramienta de cable utiliza la perforación herramientas suspendidas de un cable que el perforador soltó al profundizar el pozo ". [3]
"La plataforma canadiense de herramientas para postes utilizaba varillas o postes unidos entre sí, con una broca fijada al extremo de esta" sarta "de perforación primitiva. Las varillas de fresno negro eran la norma en los inicios de Petrolia. Las varillas de hierro llegaron más tarde. Como el sistema de herramientas de cable , la perforación con herramienta de poste utilizó el peso de la sarta de perforación golpeando el suelo desde una torre de perforación de madera para hacer un agujero ". [3]
"El registro no es lo suficientemente completo como para mostrar todas las ubicaciones en las que los canadienses ayudaron a perforar. Sin embargo, los perforadores de Petrolia sin duda ayudaron a perforar en busca de petróleo en Java , Perú , Turquía , Egipto , Rusia , Venezuela , Persia , Rumania , Austria y Alemania . El pionero de la perforación canadiense más conocido fue William McGarvey . McGarvey adquirió propiedades petroleras en Galicia (ahora parte de Polonia ) y amasó una gran fortuna; luego vio sus propiedades destruidas cuando los ejércitos rusos y austríacos barrieron la tierra durante elPrimera Guerra Mundial ". [3]
McKenzie-Brown dijo en 2008 que los perforadores canadienses se mudaron a "lugares lejanos para practicar sus habilidades ampliamente respetadas". [3]
Gas natural del este [ editar ]
McKenzie-Brown dijo que "la industria del gas natural también nació en el este de Canadá. Los informes de alrededor de 1820 hablan de jóvenes en el lago Ainslie, Nueva Escocia , que se divierten clavando palos en el suelo, sacándolos y luego encendiendo el escape de gas natural". . " [3]
"En 1859, un explorador de petróleo encontró una filtración de gas natural cerca de Moncton , New Brunswick . El Dr. HC Tweedle encontró tanto petróleo como gas en lo que se convirtió en el campo Dover, pero la filtración de agua impidió la producción de estos pozos". [3]
"Una consecuencia del auge de la perforación petrolera fue el descubrimiento de gas que contiene sulfuro de hidrógeno venenoso (gas" amargo ") cerca de Port Colborne, Ontario. Ese descubrimiento de 1866 marcó el primero de muchos campos de gas encontrados más tarde en la parte suroeste de la provincia". [3]
" Eugene Coste , un joven geólogo educado en París que se convirtió en el padre de la industria del gas natural de Canadá, trajo el primer pozo productor de gas en el condado de Essex, Ontario, en 1889. Canadá exportó por primera vez gas natural en 1891 desde el campo Bertie-Humberstone en Welland County a Buffalo, Nueva York. Posteriormente, el gas se exportó a Detroit desde el campo de Essex a través de un gasoducto de 20 centímetros bajo el río Detroit. En 1897, el gasoducto extendió el suministro de gas de Essex hasta su límite con la extensión de las exportaciones a Toledo. Ohio. Esto llevó al gobierno de Ontario a revocar la licencia del gasoducto. Y en 1907 la provincia aprobó una ley que prohíbe la exportación de gas natural y electricidad ". [3]
"En 1909, el primer pozo de gas exitoso de New Brunswick entró en Stoney Creek cerca de Moncton. Este campo todavía abastece a los clientes en Moncton, aunque la ciudad ahora tiene una planta de propano para aumentar el suministro limitado de gas natural". [3]
"El año 1911 marcó un hito para la industria del gas natural cuando tres empresas que utilizaban el campo de gas Tilbury de Ontario se unieron para formar Union Gas Company of Canada, Limited. En 1924, Union Gas fue la primera empresa en utilizar el nuevo proceso Seabord o Koppers para eliminar venenoso sulfuro de hidrógeno del gas Tilbury ". [3] Union se convirtió en una de las corporaciones más grandes de Canadá antes de su adquisición por Duke Energy , una empresa estadounidense.
Movimiento hacia el oeste [ editar ]
"Esos fueron los primeros días de la industria petrolera de Canadá. La cuna estaba en el este, pero la industria sólo comenzó a madurar con descubrimientos en el oeste de Canadá , especialmente en Alberta ", según McKenzie-Brown. [3] Allí, la cuenca sedimentaria canadiense occidental es más prolífica. El primer hallazgo de gas natural registrado en Alberta se produjo en 1883 de un pozo en el revestimiento CPR No. 8 en Langevin, cerca de Medicine Hat . Este pozo fue uno de una serie de perforaciones en puntos dispersos a lo largo de la vía férrea para obtener agua para las locomotoras a vapor de Canadian Pacific Railway . El flujo de gas inesperado se incendió y destruyó la plataforma de perforación ". [3]
"Este hallazgo llevó al Dr. George M. Dawson del Servicio Geológico de Canadá a hacer una predicción notable. Al notar que las formaciones rocosas penetradas en este pozo eran comunes en el oeste de Canadá, profetizó correctamente que el territorio algún día produciría grandes volúmenes de gas natural." [3]
"Un pozo perforado cerca de Medicine Hat en 1890, esta vez en busca de carbón, también fluía gas natural. El hallazgo llevó a los funcionarios de la ciudad a acercarse al CPR con miras a perforar pozos más profundos en busca de gas. La empresa resultante condujo al descubrimiento en 1904 de la arena de gas de Medicine Hat, que ahora se reconoce como una fuente de gas no convencional . Más tarde, ese campo entró en producción para servir a la ciudad, el primero en Alberta en tener servicio de gas. Cuando Rudyard Kipling viajó por Canadá en 1907, comentó que Medicine Hat tenía "todo el infierno por sótano" ". [3]
"En el norte de Alberta, el Gobierno del Dominio inició un programa de perforación para ayudar a definir los recursos de la región. Utilizando una plataforma traída de Toronto, en 1893 el contratista AW Fraser comenzó a perforar en busca de petróleo líquido en Athabasca . Abandonó el pozo en 1894". [3] "En 1897, Fraser trasladó la plataforma a Pelican Rapids, también en el norte de Alberta. Allí encontró gas a 250 metros (820 pies). Pero el pozo se desbocó, fluyendo sin control durante 21 años. No fue hasta 1918 que un la tripulación dirigida por AW Dingman logró matar el pozo ". [3]
"Dingman, quien jugó un papel importante en los primeros años de la industria, comenzó a brindar servicio de gas natural en Calgary a través de Calgary Natural Gas Company. Después de recibir la franquicia en 1908, perforó un pozo exitoso en el este de Calgary en la finca Walker (un pozo que continuó produciendo hasta 1948). Luego colocó la tubería desde el pozo hasta Calgary Brewing and Malting Company, que comenzó a usar el gas el 10 de abril de 1910. " [3]
"Los primeros esfuerzos para desarrollar el petróleo de Canadá occidental fueron los de Kootenai Brown . Este personaje colorido, un hombre de la frontera con una educación en Eton y Oxford, fue probablemente el primer colono de Alberta". [3] En 1874, Brown presentó la siguiente declaración jurada ante Donald Thompson, el abogado residente de Pincher Creek : [13]
El eminente geólogo Dr. George M. Dawson me contrató como guía y empaque, y me preguntó si había visto filtraciones de aceite en esa área, y si las veía, podría reconocerlas. Luego entró en una discusión erudita sobre el tema del petróleo. Posteriormente vinieron unos indios Stoney a mi campamento y yo mezclé un poco de melaza y aceite de carbón y se lo di a beber, y les dije que si encontraban algo que supiera u oliera así para avisarme. Algún tiempo después regresaron y me contaron sobre las filtraciones en Cameron Brook.
"En 1901, John Lineham de Okotoks organizó la Rocky Mountain Drilling Company. En 1902 perforó el primer pozo de exploración de petróleo en Alberta en el sitio de estas filtraciones (ahora en el Parque Nacional Waterton Lakes ). A pesar de una pequeña recuperación de 34 ° API dulce petróleo, ni este pozo ni siete intentos posteriores de exploración dieron como resultado la producción ". [3] El sitio es ahora un sitio histórico nacional de Canadá . [14]
"En 1909, la actividad de exploración se trasladó a Bow Island en el centro sur de Alberta, donde un descubrimiento de gas natural lanzó la industria del gas occidental de Canadá. El mismo Eugene Coste que había encontrado gas en Ohio y nuevamente en el sur de Ontario perforó el pozo de descubrimiento, Bow Island No. 1 (más conocida como "Old Glory"). Los gasoductos pronto transportaron gas de Bow Island a Medicine Hat, Lethbridge y Calgary, que utilizaban el combustible para la calefacción y la luz. Eugene Coste se convirtió en el fundador de la Canadian Western Natural Gas Company cuando fusionó la Calgary Natural Gas Company, Calgary Gas Company y su Prairie Fuel Company en agosto de 1911 ". [3]
Turner Valley [ editar ]
"A principios de 1914, la fiebre del petróleo arrasó Calgary y otras partes del sur de Alberta. Los inversores se alinearon frente a las casas de bolsa improvisadas para participar en la actividad de exploración provocada por el descubrimiento del 14 de mayo de 1914 de gas y petróleo húmedo en Turner Valley , al suroeste de Calgary. " [3] "Según se informa, en un período de 24 horas, los inversores y promotores formaron más de 500" compañías petroleras ". [15] [3] " Incorporada un año antes, la Bolsa de Valores de Calgary no pudo controlar algunas de las prácticas sin escrúpulos eso liberó a muchos habitantes de Alberta de sus ahorros ". [3]
"El pozo de descubrimiento que desencadenó esta oleada especulativa perteneció a Calgary Petroleum Products Company, una empresa formada por WS Herron , William Elder y AW Dingman . Nombrado como Dingman No. 1 en honor al socio a cargo de la perforación, el pozo produjo goteo de gas natural con condensado , a veces denominado nafta . Despojado del gas, esta mezcla de hidrocarburos era lo suficientemente pura como para quemarse en automóviles sin refinarse; se conoció como gasolina "skunk" debido a su olor distintivo ". [3]
La extracción de líquidos de gas natural, pionera en Turner Valley, finalmente se convirtió en una importante industria canadiense por derecho propio, como lo ilustra la historia de su desarrollo .
"El pozo Dingman y sus sucesores eran realmente pozos de gas natural" húmedos "en lugar de verdaderos pozos de petróleo. Las altas expectativas generadas por el descubrimiento inicial dieron paso a la decepción en unos pocos años. Volúmenes relativamente pequeños de líquidos fluyeron de los pozos exitosos. En 1917, el directorio de la ciudad de Calgary enumeró sólo 21 "empresas mineras de petróleo" en comparación con 226 en 1914 ". [3]
"Drilling continued in Turner Valley, however, and in 1924 came another significant discovery. The Calgary Petroleum Products Company, reorganized as Royalite Oil Company, drilled into Paleozoic limestone. The well blew out at 1,180 metres (3,870 ft)."[3]
"The blowout at Royalite No. 4 was one of the most spectacular in Alberta's history. Initially flowing at 200,000 cubic metres per day, the flow rate increased to some 620,000 cubic metres per day when the well was shut in. The shut in pressure continued to rise and, when the gauge read 1,150 pounds per square inch (7,900 kPa), the drillers ran for their lives. In 20 minutes, 939 metres (3,081 ft) of 8 inches (20 cm) and 3,450 ft (1,050 m) of 6 inches (15 cm) pipe - together weighing 85 tonnes - rose to the top of the derrick. The well blew wild, caught fire, and destroyed the entire rig. The fire blazed for 21 days. Finally, wild well control experts from Oklahoma used a dynamite explosion to blow away the flames. They then applied the combined steam flow of seven boilers to keep the torch from lighting again."[3]
"Unknown to the explorers of the day, these wells extracted naphtha from the natural gas cap over Turner Valley's oilfield. After two years of off-and-on drilling, in 1936 the Royalites No. 1 well finally drilled into the principal oil reservoir at more than 2,500 metres (8,200 ft)."[3]
"This well, which established Turner Valley as Canada's first major oil field and the largest in the emerging British Commonwealth, used innovative financing. Promoters ordinarily sold shares in a company to finance new drilling programs, but in the Depression money for shares was hard to come by. Instead, R.A. Brown, George M. Bell and J.W. Moyer put together an enterprise called Turner Valley Royalties. That company offered a percentage share of production (a "royalty") to those willing to put money into the long-shot venture."[3]
"Recoverable oil reserves from the Turner Valley field were probably about 19 million cubic metres. Although locals boasted at the time that it was "the biggest oil field in the British Empire", Turner Valley was not a large field by later standards. (By way of comparison, the Pembina field in central Alberta - Canada's largest - had recoverable reserves of about 100 million cubic metres.) But besides being an important source of oil supply for the then-small market in western Canada, the field had an important long-term impact. It helped develop petroleum expertise in Canada's west, and it established Calgary as Canada's oil and gas capital."[3]
Waste and conservation[edit]
"Enormous waste of natural gas was a dubious distinction that Turner Valley claimed for many years. Royalite had a monopoly on sales to Canadian Western Natural Gas Company, so other producers could not sell their gas. But all the producers wanted to cash in on the natural gas liquids for which markets were growing. So the common practice became to pass the gas through separators, then flare it off. This greatly reduced the pressure on the oil reservoir, reducing the amount of recoverable oil. But the size of the problem was not clear until the oil column was later discovered."[3]
"The flares were visible in the sky for miles around. Many of these were in a small ravine known to locals as Hell's Half Acre. Because of the presence of the flares, the grass stayed green year-round and migrating birds wintered in their warmth."[3] A newspaper man from Manchester, England, described the place with these florid words:[13]
... Seeing it you can imagine what Dante's inferno is like ... a rushing torrent of flame, shooting 40 feet (12 m) high ... a ruddy glow to be seen for 50 miles (80 km) ... most awe-inspiring spectacle ... men have seen the hosts of hell rising ... the titanic monster glowering from the depths of Hades ...
While the flaring continued, the business community seriously discussed ways to market the gas. For example, in early 1929 W.S. Herron, a Turner Valley pioneer, publicly promoted the idea of a pipeline to Winnipeg. At about the same time, an American company made application for a franchise to distribute natural gas to Regina. The Bank of North Dakota offered to buy 1.4 million cubic metres per day.
"By early 1930, there was talk of a pipeline from Turner Valley to Toronto. Estimates showed that gas delivery to Toronto would cost $2.48 per thousand cubic metres. A parliamentary committee looked into ways to force waste gas down old wells, set up carbon black plants or export the gas to the United States. Another proposal called for the production of liquefied methane."[3]
"The Depression, however, had already gripped Canada, which may have been more severely affected than any other country in the world. Capital investment became less and less attractive and drilling at Turner Valley ground to a halt as the economic situation worsened."[3]
"The federal government owned the mineral rights not held by the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Calgary & Edmonton Corporation, or individual homesteads. The government tried to curb the flaring of gas, but legal difficulties made its efforts of little avail. One federal conservation measure succeeded, however. On August 4, 1930, began operations to store surplus Turner Valley gas in the depleted Bow Island field."[3]
"An earlier effort to control waste resulted in an Order in Council made on April 26, 1922, prohibiting offset drilling closer than 70 metres (230 ft) from any lease boundary. Keeping wells spaced away from each other, as this regulation did, prevents too rapid depletion of a field."[3]
After lengthy negotiations, the "federal government transferred ownership of natural resources to the provinces effective October 1, 1930. Soon after, the Alberta government enacted legislation to regulate oil and gas wells."[3] In October 1931, the provincial Legislature passed a bill (based on a report by a provincial advisory committee) to control the Turner Valley situation. While most operators supported this act, one independent operator, Spooner Oils Ltd., launched legal proceedings to have the act declared ultra vires; this was successful in a Supreme Court of Canada judgement handed down 3 October 1933.[16] Alberta asked Ottawa to pass legislation confirming the provincial law; the federal government, however, shrugged off the request saying natural resources were under provincial jurisdiction."[3]
"During 1932, the newly created Turner Valley Gas Conservation Board proposed cutting production in half and unitizing the field to reduce waste. But the producers could not reach agreement on this issue, and the idea fell by the wayside. And so legal wrangling tied up any real conservation measures until 1938. In that year, the federal government confirmed the province's right to enact laws to conserve natural resources."[3]
"With this backing, in July 1938 the province set up the Alberta Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board (today known as the Energy Resources Conservation Board). New unitization rules limited well spacing to about 40 acres (16 ha) per well. The board also reduced oil production from the field. This reduced the flaring of natural gas, but it came only after the waste of an estimated 28 billion cubic metres. The lessons of Turner Valley made an impression around the world as the need for conservation and its impact on ultimate recovery became better understood. Countries framing their first petroleum laws have often used the Alberta legislation as a model."[3]
"Besides contributing to conservation, solving Turner Valley's technical challenges with innovative technology also helped earn the field a place in early oil and gas history. Uncorrected, drilling holes wandered 22 degrees or more off course. As the field's high-pressure gas expanded, it cooled rapidly freezing production equipment. This complicated the production process. Other problems involved external corrosion, casing failures, sulfide stress corrosion cracking, corrosion inside oil storage tanks, and the cold winters."[3]
"Early drilling was done by wooden cable tool drilling rigs which pounded a hole into the ground. These monsters ruled the drilling scene until the mid-1920s. Rotary drilling (which has since replaced cable tool drilling) and diamond coring made their appearance in Turner Valley in 1925. Nitro-shooting came in 1927 to enhance production at McLeod No. 2. Acidizing made its Canadian debut in 1936 at Model No. 3. Scrubbing gas to extract hydrogen sulfide started in 1925. Field repressurization began in 1944 and water flooding started in 1948."[3]
"Only months after Union Gas completed a scrubbing facility for its Tilbury gas in Ontario, in 1924 Royalite began sweetening gas from the sour Royalite #4 well through a similar plant. This process removed H2S from the gas, but did not extract the sulfur as a chemical element. This development waited until 1952, when a sulfur recovery plant at Turner Valley began producing raw sulfur."[3]
"Turner Valley oil production peaked in 1942, partly because the Oil and Gas Conservation Board increased allowable production as part of the Second World War war effort. During that period exploration results elsewhere in western Canada were disappointing. The only significant discoveries were small heavy oil fields. Natural gas finds were mostly uneconomic, since Western Canada's few gas pipelines were small and already well supplied."[3]
Small discoveries elsewhere[edit]
Natural flows of oil and gas led to the successful early exploration in Alberta's foothills. Those discoveries were not unique, however. Early settlers frequently found oil and gas seeps in Western Canada, generally near rivers, streams and creeks.
At Rolla, British Columbia, for example, such an observation caught Imperial Oil's attention, and in 1922 the company financed exploration to investigate. A well was drilled and oil and gas found. However, the remoteness of the Peace River Country from market and the lack of good transport hindered commercial exploitation of the area. Today, however, Northeastern British Columbia is an active exploration and production region within the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Commercial development dates from the 1950s.
Many small wells were successfully drilled in Western Canada in the pre-war years, but prior to the Second World War there were no big oil discoveries outside Turner Valley.
Leduc[edit]
That changed in 1947, when Imperial Oil discovered light oil just south of Edmonton. Imperial's success was inspired by their much earlier discovery at Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories. The link was that there appeared to be Devonian reefs in Alberta. At the Norman Wells discovery, Imperial had located just such a reservoir in the 1920s.
During the 1930s and early 1940s, oil companies tried unsuccessfully to find replacement for declining Turner Valley reserves. According to legend, Imperial Oil had drilled 133 dry wells in Alberta and Saskatchewan, although the records show that many of those wells were natural gas discoveries that were uneconomic at the time.
In 1946, the company decided on one last drilling program from east to west in Alberta. The wells would be "wildcats" - exploratory wells drilled in search of new fields. The first drill site was Leduc No. 1 in a field on the farm of Mike Turta, 15 kilometres west of Leduc and about 50 kilometres south of Edmonton. Located on a weak seismic anomaly, the well was a rank wildcat. No drilling of any kind had taken place within an 80-kilometre radius.
Drilling started on November 20, 1946. It continued through a winter that was "bloody cold," according to members of the rig crew. At first the crew thought the well was a gas discovery, but there were signs of something more. At 1,530 metres (5,020 ft), drilling sped up and the first bit samples showed free oil in dolomite, a good reservoir rock. After coring, oil flowed to the surface during a drill stem test at 1,544 metres (5,066 ft).
Imperial Oil decided to bring the well in with some fanfare at 10 o'clock in the morning of February 13, 1947. The company invited the mayor of Edmonton and other dignitaries. The night before the ceremony, however, swabbing equipment broke down. The crew laboured to repair it all night. But 10:00 a.m. passed and no oil flowed. Many of the invited guests left.
Finally by 4:00 pm the crew were able to get the well to flow. The chilled onlookers, now numbering only about 100, saw a spectacular column of smoke and fire beside the derrick as the crew flared the first gas and oil. Alberta mines minister N.E. Tanner turned the valve to start the oil flowing (at an initial rate of about 155 cubic metres per day), and the Canadian oil industry moved into the modern era. This well marked the discovery of what became the Leduc/Woodbend field, which has since produced about 50 million cubic metres (more than 300 million barrels) of oil.
Imperial lost no time. On February 12 the company had started drilling Leduc No. 2, about three kilometres southwest of No. 1, trying to extend the producing formation. But nothing showed up at that level and company officials argued over how to proceed. One group proposed abandoning the well, instead drilling a direct offset to No. 1; another group wanted to continue drilling No. 2 into a deep stratigraphic test. But drilling continued. On May 10 at 1,657 metres (5,436 ft), No. 2 struck the much bigger Devonian reef, which later turned out to be the most prolific geological formation in Alberta, the Leduc Formation.
Leduc No. 1 stopped producing in 1974 after the production of some 50,300 cubic metres (320,000 barrels) of oil and 9 million cubic metres (320 million cubic feet) of natural gas. On November 1, 1989, Esso Resources (the exploration and production arm of Imperial) began producing the field as a gas reservoir.
Geological diversity[edit]
The Leduc discoveries put Alberta on the world petroleum map. News of the finds spread quickly, due in large part to a spectacular blowout in the early days of the development of this field. In March 1948, drillers on the Atlantic Leduc #3 well lost mud circulation in the top of the reef, and the well blew out.
In one journalist's words,"The well had barely punched into the main producing reservoir a mile below the surface when a mighty surge of pressure shot the drilling mud up through the pipe and 150 feet (46 m) into the air. As the ground shook and a high-pitched roar issued from the well, the mud was followed by a great, dirty plume of oil and gas that splattered the snow-covered ground. Drillers pumped several tons of drilling mud down the hole, and after thirty-eight hours the wild flow was sealed off, but not for long. Some 2,800 feet (850 m) below the surface, the drill pipe had broken off, and through this break the pressure of the reservoir forced oil and gas into shallower formations. As the pressure built up, the oil and gas were forced to the surface through crevices and cracks. Geysers of mud, oil, and gas spouted out of the ground in hundreds of craters over a 10-acre (40,000 m2) area around the well."[13]Atlantic #3 eventually caught fire, and the crew worked frantically for 59 hours to snuff out the blaze.
It took six months, two relief wells and the injection of 160,000 cubic metres of river water to bring the well under control, an achievement which the crews celebrated on September 9, 1948. Cleanup efforts recovered almost 180,000 cubic metres of oil in a series of ditches and gathering pools. The size of the blowout and the cleanup operation added to the legend. By the time Atlantic #3 was back under control, the whole world knew from newsreels and photo features of the blowout that the words "oil" and "Alberta" were inseparable.
Exploration boomed. By 1950, Alberta was one of the world's exploration hot spots, and seismic activity grew until 1953. After the Leduc strike, it became clear that Devonian reefs could be prolific oil reservoirs, and exploration concentrated on the search for similar structures. A series of major discoveries followed, and the industry began to appreciate the diversity of geological structures in the province that could contain oil. Early reef discoveries included Redwater in 1948, Golden Spike in 1949, Wizard Lake, Fenn Big Valley and Bonnie Glen in 1951 and Westerose in 1952. In 1953, Mobil Oil made a discovery near Drayton Valley, in a sandstone formation. By 1956, more than 1,500 development wells dotted what became the Pembina oil field (the largest field in western Canada) with hardly a dry hole among them, and the oil bearing Cardium Formation was dubbed the Cardium Freeway. The Swan Hills field, discovered in 1957, exploited a carbonate rock formation.
Before Leduc, the petroleum industry had long been familiar with the oil sand deposits. A number of companies were already producing heavy oil in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Turner Valley petroleum reservoirs near Calgary had been on production for nearly 35 years, and the Devonian reef at Norman Wells in the Northwest Territories had been discovered a quarter of a century earlier.
In the decade after Leduc, the industry identified many more reservoir types, including those at Daly, Manitoba in 1951, at Midale, Saskatchewan in 1953 and at Clarke Lake, B.C. in 1956. And in the years since, the sector has found many more petroleum traps in the Western Canada Basin, especially within Alberta's borders. The region has great geological diversity.
Foreign Interest[edit]
At its recent peak in 1973, more than 78 per cent of Canadian oil and gas production was under foreign ownership and more than 90 per cent of oil and gas production companies were under foreign control, mostly American. It spurred the National Energy Program under the Trudeau government.[17]
Pipeline networks[edit]
In 1853, a small gas transmission line in Quebec established Canada as a leader in pipeline construction. A 25-kilometre length of cast-iron pipe moved natural gas to Trois-Rivières, Quebec, to light the streets. It was probably the longest pipeline in the world at the time. Canada also boasted the world's first oil pipeline when, in 1862, a line connected the Petrolia oilfield to Sarnia, Ontario. In 1895, natural gas began flowing to the United States from Ontario's Essex field through a 20-centimetre pipeline laid under the Detroit River.
In Western Canada, Eugene Coste built the first important pipeline in 1912. The 274-kilometre natural gas line connected the Bow Island gas field to consumers in Calgary. Canada's debut in northern pipeline building came during World War II when the short-lived Canol line delivered oil from Norman Wells to Whitehorse (964 kilometres), with additional supply lines to Fairbanks and Skagway, Alaska, USA, and to Watson Lake, Yukon. Wartime priorities assured the expensive pipeline's completion in 1944 and its abandonment in 1946.
By 1947, only three Canadian oil pipelines moved product to market. One transported oil from Turner Valley to Calgary. A second moved imported crude from coastal Maine to Montreal while the third brought American mid-continent oil into Ontario. But the Leduc strike and subsequent discoveries in Alberta created an opportunity for pipeline building on a grander scale. As reserves increased, producers clamored for markets. With its population density and an extensive refining system that relied on the United States and the Caribbean for crude oil, Ontario was an excellent prospect. The west coast offered another logical choice - closer still, although separated from the oilfields by the daunting Rocky Mountains. The industry pursued these opportunities vigorously.
Crude oil arteries[edit]
Construction of the Interprovincial Pipeline system from Alberta to Central Canada began in 1949 with surveys and procurement. Field construction of the Edmonton/Regina/Superior (Wisconsin) leg began early in 1950 and concluded just 150 days later. The line began moving oil from Edmonton to the Great Lakes, a distance of 1,800 kilometres, before the end of the year. In 1953, the company extended the system to Sarnia, Ontario, in 1957 to Toronto. Other additions have extended the pipe to Montreal, Chicago and even Wood River in southern Illinois. The Interprovincial crude oil pipeline (now part of Enbridge Inc.) was the longest oil pipeline in the world when it was first constructed; the longest oil pipeline is now the Druzhba pipeline from Siberia. Until the completion of the TransCanada gas pipeline, it was also the longest pipeline in the world.
The IPL line fundamentally changed the pricing of Alberta oil to make it sensitive to international rather than regional factors. The wellhead price reflected the price of oil at Sarnia, less pipeline tolls for shipping it there. IPL is by far the longest crude oil pipeline in the western hemisphere. Looping, or constructing additional lines beside the original, expanded the Interprovincial system and allowed its extension into the American midwest and to upstate New York. In 1976, it was 3,680 kilometres through an extension to Montreal. Although it helped assure security of supply in the 1970s, the extension became a threat to Canadian oil producers after deregulation in 1985. With Montreal refineries using cheaper imported oil, there was concern within the industry that a proposal to use the line to bring foreign oil into Sarnia might undermine traditional markets for Western Canadian petroleum.
The oil supply situation on the North American continent grew critical during the Korean War and helped enable construction by Trans Mountain Oil Pipe Line Company[18] of a transmission facility from Edmonton to Vancouver and, later, to the Seattle area. Oil first moved through the 1,200-kilometre, $93 million system in 1953. The rugged terrain made the Trans Mountain line an extraordinary engineering accomplishment. It crossed the Rockies, the mountains of central British Columbia, and 98 streams and rivers. Where it crosses under the Fraser River into Vancouver at Port Mann, 700 metres (2,300 ft) of pipe lie buried nearly 5 metres (16 ft) below the river bed. At its highest point, the pipeline is 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) above sea level.
To support these major pipelines, the industry gradually developed a complex network of feeder lines in the three most westerly provinces. A historic addition to this system was the 866-kilometre Norman Wells pipeline, which was in effect an extension of the Interprovincial line. This pipeline accompanied the expansion and water flooding of the oilfield, and began bringing 600 cubic metres of oil per day to Zama, in northwestern Alberta, in early 1985. From Zama, Norman Wells oil travels through other crude oil arteries to markets in Canada and the United States. Interprovincial Pipeline was the foundation from which the large Canadian corporation Enbridge grew.
Gas pipelines and politics[edit]
Through much of the 20th century, Canadians viewed natural gas as a patrimony, an essential resource to husband with great care for tomorrow. By contrast, they generally viewed oil as just another commodity. Only in special circumstances was there much public debate about crude oil exports.
Canadian attitudes about gas date back to the late 19th century, when Ontario stopped exports. The province began exporting natural gas in 1891 to Buffalo, N.Y. from the Bertie-Humberstone field near Welland, Ontario. Another pipeline under the Detroit River transported gas from the Essex field to Detroit. And by 1897, a pipeline to Toledo, Ohio began taxing the Essex gas field to its limits. As a result, the Ontario government revoked the pipeline licenses and passed a law prohibiting the export of both gas and electricity.
The reasons behind Canada's protectionist policies toward natural gas are complex, but closely tied to the value gas has for space heating in a cold climate. These issues were not finally resolved in favour of continentalism until the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s.
By the late 1940s, Alberta's Conservation Board had eliminated most of the wasteful production practices associated with the Turner Valley oil and gas field. As new natural gas discoveries greeted drillers in the Leduc-fueled search for oil, the industry agitated for licenses to export natural gas. That was when they discovered that getting permits to export Alberta natural gas was politically more complex than getting permits to export oil. Before giving approval, the provincial government appointed the Dinning Natural Gas Commission to inquire into Alberta's likely reserves and future demand.
In its March 1949 report, the Dinning Commission supported the principle that Albertans should have first call on provincial natural gas supplies, and that Canadians should have priority over foreign users if an exportable surplus developed. Alberta accepted the recommendations of the Dinning Commission, and later declared it would only authorize exports of gas in excess of a 30-year supply.
Shortly thereafter, Alberta's Legislature passed the Gas Resources Conservation Act, which gave Alberta greater control over natural gas at the wellhead, and empowered the Conservation Board to issue export permits. This led to the creation of the Alberta Gas Trunk Line, which gathered gas from wells in the province and to delivered it to exit points.
There were many reasons for the creation of AGTL. One was that the provincial government considered it sensible to have a single gathering system in Alberta to feed export pipelines, rather than a number of separate networks. Another was that pipelines crossing provincial boundaries and those leaving the country fall under federal jurisdiction. By creating a separate entity to carry gas within Alberta, the provincial government stopped Ottawa's authority at the border. Incorporated in 1954, AGTL issued public shares in 1957. The company later restructured as NOVA Corporation, sold its pipeline assets (now primarily operated by TransCanada Corporation), and transformed itself into NOVA Chemicals.
The federal government's policy objectives at the time reflected concern for national integration and equity among Canadians. In 1949, Ottawa created a framework for regulating interprovincial and international pipelines with its Pipe Lines Act. The federal government, like Alberta, treated natural gas as a resource that was so important for national security that domestic supply needed to be guaranteed into the foreseeable future before exports would be allowed.
Although Americans were interested in Canadian exports, they understandably wanted cheap gas. After all, their natural gas industry was a major player in the American economy, and American policy-makers were not eager to allow foreign competition unless there was clear economic benefit. Consequently, major gas transportation projects were politically and economically uncertain.
Construction[edit]
Among the first group of applicants hoping to remove natural gas from Alberta was Westcoast Transmission Co. Ltd., backed by British Columbia-born entrepreneur Frank McMahon. The Westcoast plan, eventually achieved in a slightly modified form, took gas from northwestern Alberta and northeastern B.C. and piped it to Vancouver and to the American Pacific northwest, supplying B.C.'s interior along the way. Except for a small export of gas to Montana which began in 1951, Westcoast was the first applicant to receive permission to remove gas from Alberta.
Although turned down in 1951, Westcoast received permission in 1952 to take 50 billion cubic feet (1.4×109 m3) of gas out of the Peace River area of Alberta annually for five years. The company subsequently made gas discoveries across the border in B.C. which further supported the scheme. However, the United States Federal Power Commission (later the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) rejected the Westcoast proposal in 1954 after three years of hearings and 28,000 pages of testimony.
Within eighteen months, however, Westcoast returned with a revised proposal, found a new participant in the venture, and received FPC approval. Construction began on Canada's first major gas export pipeline.
The Canadian section of the line cost $198 million to build and at the time was the largest private financial undertaking in the country's history. Built in the summer seasons of 1956 and 1957, the line moved gas from the Fort St. John and Peace River areas 1,250 kilometres to Vancouver and the American border.
TransCanada PipeLines Limited also applied early for permission to remove natural gas from Alberta. Two applicants originally expressed interest in moving gas east: Canadian Delhi Oil Company (now called TCPL) proposed moving gas to the major cities of eastern Canada by an all-Canadian route, while Western Pipelines wanted to stop at Winnipeg with a branch line south to sell into the midwestern United States. In 1954 C.D. Howe forced the two companies into a shotgun marriage, with the all-Canadian route preferred over its more economical but American-routed competitor.
This imposed solution reflected problems encountered with the construction of the Interprovincial oil pipeline. Despite the speed of its construction, the earlier line caused angry debate in Parliament, with the Opposition arguing that Canadian centres deserved consideration before American customers and that "the main pipeline carrying Canadian oil should be laid in Canadian soil". By constructing its natural gas mainline along an entirely Canadian route, TCPL accommodated nationalist sentiments, solving a political problem for the federal government.
The regulatory process for TCPL proved long and arduous. After rejecting proposals twice, Alberta finally granted its permission to export gas from the province in 1953. At first, the province waited for explorers to prove gas reserves sufficient for its thirty-year needs, intending to only allow exports in excess of those needs. After clearing this hurdle, the federal government virtually compelled TCPL into a merger with Western pipelines. When this reorganized TCPL went before the Federal Power Commission for permission to sell gas into the United States, the Americans greeted it coolly. The FPC proved sceptical of the project's financing and unimpressed with Alberta's reserves.
Engineering problems made the 1,090-kilometre section crossing the Canadian Shield the most difficult leg of the TransCanada pipeline. Believing construction costs could make the line uneconomic, private sector sponsors refused to finance this portion of the line. Since the federal government wanted the line laid for nationalistic reasons, the reigning Liberals put a bill before Parliament to create a crown corporation to build and own the Canadian Shield portion of the line, leasing it back to TCPL. The government restricted debate on the bill in order to get construction underway by June, knowing that delays beyond that month would postpone the entire project a year. The use of closure created a furore which spilled out of Parliament and into the press. Known as the Great Pipeline Debate, this parliamentary episode contributed to the Louis St. Laurent government's defeat at the polls in 1957. But the bill passed and construction of the TransCanada pipeline began.
A stock trading scandal surrounding Northern Ontario Natural Gas, the contractor for the Northern Ontario leg of the pipeline, also implicated Sudbury mayor Leo Landreville and Ontario provincial cabinet ministers Philip Kelly, William Griesinger and Clare Mapledoram between 1955 and 1958.[19]
The completion of this project was a spectacular technological achievement. In the first three years of construction (1956–58), workers installed 3,500 kilometres of pipe, stretching from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to Toronto and Montreal. Gas service to Regina and Winnipeg commenced in 1957 and the line reached the Lakehead before the end of that year. In late 1957, during a high pressure line test on the section of the line from Winnipeg to Port Arthur (today called Thunder Bay), about five and a half kilometres of pipeline blew up near Dryden. After quick repairs, the line delivered Alberta gas to Port Arthur before the end of the year, making the entire trip on its own wellhead pressure.
Building the Canadian Shield leg required continual blasting. For one 320 metres (1,050 ft) stretch, the construction crew drilled 2.4 metres (7.9 ft) holes into the rock, three abreast, at 56-centimetre intervals. Dynamite broke up other stretches, 305 metres (1,001 ft) at a time.
On October 10, 1958, a final weld completed the line and on October 27, the first Alberta gas entered Toronto. For more than two decades, the Trans-Canada pipeline was the longest in the world. Only in the early 1980s was its length finally exceeded by a Soviet pipeline from Siberia to Western Europe.
With these events - the discovery and development of oil and gas reservoirs and of processing and transportation infrastructure - Canada's petroleum industry established its foundations. However, over the decades that followed the industry began to develop other domestic petroleum resources. These included oil sands and heavy oil deposits, and the northern and offshore frontiers. Also, the natural gas sector constructed extensive natural gas liquids extraction facilities. Taken together, these developments helped Canada create one of the world's largest and most complex petroleum industries.
See also[edit]
- Technological and industrial history of Canada
- History of Canada
- Energy policy of Canada
- Natural gas processing
- Science and technology in Canada
- History of petroleum
References[edit]
- ^ "Proved Reserves of Crude Oil". US Energy Information Administration. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- ^ "30 countries with highest proven oil reserves Last updated on: March 1, 2012 08:31 IST". rediff.com. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd McKenzie-Brown, Peter (August 2006). "Canadian Oil and Gas: The First 100 Years". Language Matters: Studies in energy, history and language. Calgary, Alberta. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
- ^ Oil Museum of Canada
- ^ May, Gary. Hard oiler! Dundurn Press, 1998, p 33.
- ^ Sarnia Observer and Lambton Advertiser, "Important Discovery in the Township of Enniskillen Archived 2015-04-03 at the Wayback Machine," 5 August 1858, p 2.
- ^ Petroleum History Society, Petroleum History: Canadian Beginnings.
- ^ Earle Gray. Ontario's Petroleum Legacy: The birth, evolution, and challenges of a global industry (Edmonton: Heritage Community Foundation) 2008
- ^ Johnson, Dana. The Shaw Investigation: A Review of Sources to Determine Who Drilled Canada's First Oil Gusher Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Oil Museum of Canada, 2010.
- ^ Extraordinary Flowing Oil Well Archived 2015-04-03 at the Wayback Machine, Hamilton Times, Author Unknown, "Extraordinary Flowing Oil Well," 20 January 1862, p 2.
- ^ Elford, Jean Turnbull. Great West's Last Frontier – A History of Lambton (Wyoming excerpt) Archived 2014-03-26 at the Wayback Machine, Lambton County Historical Society, 1967.
- ^ a b Oil Springs: boom and bust Archived 2014-08-21 at the Wayback Machine, Oil Museum of Canada
- ^ a b c McKenzie-Brown, Peter; Jaremko, Gordon; Finch, David (November 15, 1993). The great oil age: the petroleum industry in Canada. Detselig Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-55059-072-2.
- ^ Dormarr, Johan; Watt, Robert A. (2007). "First Oil Well in Western Canada National Historic Site of Canada". Parks Canada. Retrieved 18 June 2010.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
- ^ Ward, Tom (1975). Cowtown : an album of early Calgary. Calgary: City of Calgary Electric System, McClelland and Stewart West. p. 214. ISBN 0-7712-1012-4.
- ^ Supreme Court
- ^ Peter Tertzakian (Jul 25, 2012). "Canada again a focus of a new Great Scramble for oil". The Globe and Mail.
- ^ Peter Meiszner (Oct 14, 2013). "Pipeline history: Opening of the Trans Mountain pipeline in 1953". Global Online News.
- ^ Bad Judgment: The Case of Justice Leo A. Landreville, William Kaplan, 1996.
www.geohelp.net/world.html
External links[edit]
- Map of Canadian Oil and gas infrastructure
Further reading[edit]
- Anderson, Allan (1981). Roughnecks and wildcatters: hundreds of first-hand exciting stories by Canadian rigbuilders. Macmillan. ISBN 9780771594960.
- Bott, Robert; Carson, David M.; Henderson, Jan W.; Carvey, Shaundra (2004). Our petroleum challenge: sustainability into the 21st century. Canadian Centre for Energy Information. ISBN 978-1-894348-15-7.
- Breen, David (January 1993). Alberta's petroleum industry and the Conservation Board. University of Alberta. ISBN 978-0-88864-245-5.
- Finch, David (1 March 2005). Hell's Half Acre: Early Days In The Great Alberta Oil Patch. Heritage House Publishing Co. ISBN 978-1-894384-82-7.
- Gray, Earle (1 August 2008). Ontario's petroleum legacy: the birth, evolution and challenges of a global industry. Heritage Community Foundation. ISBN 978-0-9739892-2-9.
- George De Mille (1969). Oil in Canada West, the early years. Printed by Northwest Printing and Lithographing.
- May, Gary (1 October 1998). Hard Oiler!: The Story of Canadians' Quest for Oil at Home and Abroad. Dundurn Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-55002-316-9.
- McKenzie-Brown, Peter; Jaremko, Gordon; Finch, David (15 November 1993). The great oil age: the petroleum industry in Canada. Detselig Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-55059-072-2.
- Mir-Babayev M.F. Brief history of the first drilled oil well; and people involved - "Oil-Industry History" (USA), 2017, v.18, #1, p. 25-34.
- www.geohelp.net/world.html
- Vassiliou, Marius. Historical Dictionary of Petroleum Industry; 2nd edition. USA, Lanham MD: Rowman and Littlefield-Scarecrow Press, 2018, 593 p.
Metric conversion[edit]
- Canada's oil measure, the cubic metre, is unique in the world. It is metric in the sense that it uses metres, but it is based on volume so that Canadian units can be easily converted into barrels. In the rest of the metric world, the standard for measuring oil is the metric tonne. The advantage of the latter measure is that it reflects oil quality. In general, lower grade oils are heavier.
- One cubic metre of oil = 6.29 barrels. One cubic metre of natural gas = 35.49 cubic feet (1.005 m3). One kilopascal = 1% of atmospheric pressure (near sea level).
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