Composed by: Jocelyn Manlongat
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
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
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
1914
Gas is discovered at Turner Valley; Alberta’s
first oil rush
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.
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
1921
The American company had
leased 369,537 acres.
Between 1921 and 1924
Standard Oil took over the
floundering Petroleum
Products Company.
1925
A pipeline was built to connect Turner Valley to Calgary.
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.
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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.
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
 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.
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%
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.
1980
Clark’s first budget promised a $4 increase per barrel in
oil prices in 1980.
1981
Alberta cut the flow of oil to eastern Canada by five
percent.
1982
Despite the concessions that Lougheed received from
the federal government, complex factors caused
Alberta’s oil boom to collapse.
Year
Wells
Barrels
(millions)
Exploration
Expenditure
($ millions)
1947
502
6.3
25
1960
9,878
133.5
353
14,168
522.2
870
1972
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.
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
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.
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.
 http://www.nadc.gov.ab.ca/industry/NADC-
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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+g
as+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