Edmonton Hesitates

Hired to drill this well were none other than “Tiny” Phillips and “Frosty” Martin of “Old Glory” fame. They struck gas here in November, 1914, as Tiny recorded in his journal: “the gas burst forth with a roar from the bowels of the earth, where it had been imprisoned for eons. The noise was terrific and the crowd scattered as if some terrible monster had been let loose.”

Although Edmonton had found its gas, it allowed the fuel to languish at the well site for about nine years before actually making use of it. Residents rejected three successive bylaws submitted to raise financing for the development of the Viking gas field, a prospect they perceived as risky and expensive. Edmonton waffled as wartime costs of

pipe, labour, and transportation seemed prohibitive, and so it was November of 1923 before Northwestern Utilities, Ltd., began pumping natural gas from the Viking field to the city of Edmonton.

Despite their initial hesitancy in developing the Viking field, Edmontonians enthusiastically embraced the many advantages natural gas offered over coal, and by 1928 it was apparent that the capacity of their main gas line already needed to be significantly increased. Their delayed entry into the world of gas and oil energy was but a dim memory by the time the next big petroleum development occurred in 1947 with a wildcat Imperial well just outside of Edmonton in Leduc.

CONVENTIONAL OIL, The Leduc Era

Alberta’s first natural gas discovery in Langevin eventually leads to the designation of Medicine Hat as the “Gas Town of the West.”

At Bow Island, Alberta, the largest gas well drilled in Canada to date is directed by Eugene Coste, the “father of the natural gas industry.”

Eugene Coste builds a 270-km (168-mi.) long pipeline, one of the longest and largest pipelines at that time, to carry Bow Island gas to Calgary and Lethbridge.

Natural gas wet with condensate is first discovered in the Cretaceous level at Turner Valley with the Dingman No. 1 well by Calgary Petroleum Products, the company originally founded by William Stewart Herron.

Edmonton finds a natural gas supply in Viking, Alberta, but delays development due to war-related anxieties.

Royalite Oil Company Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Imperial Oil, gains entry to Turner Valley and begins an aggressive campaign to dominate petroleum production there.

Edmonton, Alberta, receives its first delivery of natural gas from the Viking-Kinsella field that had been discovered in 1914.

Royalite Oil punctures the gas condensate reservoir in the Mississippian rock formation at Turner Valley, and Royalite No. 4 erupts in fire.

The Canadian federal government transfers control of natural gas and other natural resources to the provincial Government of Alberta through the Natural Resources Transfer Acts of 1930.

Oil and Gas Resources Conservation Act becomes law, and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board, now the Energy Utilities Board, is formed as the regulatory authority for all gas and oil operations.

The largest gas reservoir in Canada at the time of discovery, the Jumping Pound field becomes a symbol of the need to resolve the stalemate over whether or not Alberta should export its natural gas; without adequate markets, it remains shut in until 1951.

Efforts to promote natural gas as a safe, clean alternative to coal help the market expand rapidly, and large-scale processing and pipeline projects are constructed to serve the growing market.

In 1952, facilities in both Turner Valley and Jumping Pound begin to convert the toxic hydrogen sulfide in sour gas into benign elemental sulfur, and by the 1970s Canada becomes the largest exporter of sulfur in the world.

Alberta Trunk Line Company is established in order to gather and transmit Alberta’s natural gas for domestic consumption as well as for export outside of the province.

TransCanada Pipeline exports the first gas piped to eastern Canada over a single pipeline, longer than any other single length of pipeline in North America at that time.

Tom Adams and Stan Jones found the Meota Gas Co-operative, the first in what becomes a widespread movement to provide gas service throughout Alberta’s rural areas.

Prime Minister Trudeau introduces the national Energy Program (NEP), which sets prices for oil and gas well below international prices.

The Lodgepole sour gas blowout smells up the air for weeks, highlighting a growing conflict between the desire for economic development and the need to safeguard the public.

As conventional sources of natural gas have matured and declined, the industry has increasingly focused its efforts on developing unconventional gas resources such as shale gas, tight gas and coal bed methane.