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In 1948, Imperial Oil was faced with a choice to drill near Golden Spike, AB or surrender the land back to the Government. Their seismic data for the area was poor quality and the geophysicist could not identify a drillable target. Imperial’s Calgary Manager ordered the drilling superintendent, Vern “Dry Hole” Hunter, to move a rig out there saying: “It’s no good, but we have to drill it”. [1]
Their intention was to test the Wabamum formation for gas, but this was soon abandoned when they encountered 600 feet of oil pay (pay: the portion of a reservoir capable of producing commercial hydrocarbon) in the Leduc formation. The Leduc, a Devonian carbonate reef, was already a world renowned prospect after the Leduc No. 1 well, drilled two years before, set off the Canadian conventional oil boom. [1]
The Imperial Schoepp No. 1 came on production in 1949 and would go on to produce 39 million barrels of oil and 37 billion cubic feet of gas over the next half century. The well was under regulatory production restrictions when it came on production which explains how the well showed no decline over the first 20 years of its life. The peak rate of the well occured in November 1966 at an average rate of 14,440 bbl/d and it would produce 3.9 million barrels of crude that year alone. To put the size of this well in context, Canada was only producing 32,500 bbl/d in 1948 when this well was being drilled.
The chart below shows its oil and gas production from 1951 until its abandonment. The data from 1951-1962 was obtained from AER microfiche records which were digitized for this article.
Turn on and off each series by clicking on the text in the legend.
On March 31, 1949, Mr. Arthur Leroy Smith, an MP from Calgary West, addressed the House of Commons with news of the success:
“I am the bearer of good news. In this morning’s paper I saw that an oil well known as Schoepp Imperial No. 1, which is just north of Edmonton in a new field, had proven 470 feet of a productive horizon, was still pouring and going on. This is not a world record, but it is approaching it. In view of the fact that from a few feet you can get a commercial oil well, members of this house can well imagine the tremendous and favourable effect of the news which has been received.” [2][3]
How much has changed in 70 years! It’s hard to imagine the House of Commons celebrating the achievements of the oil and gas industry today.
The Leduc wells, starting with Leduc No. 1 , proved that Alberta had rich oil reserves. In 1946, Alberta was producing about 17,000 bbl/d from 523 oil wells. A decade later, there would be over 7,400 wells producing 393,000 bbl/d. [4] The growth in oil production can be further explored in Petro Ninja’s article Charting Canadian Oil and Gas Production.
[1] Reference: Echoes of Yesteryear: Golden Spike, Aubery Kerr (September 22, 2002) Published in The Negotiator magazine
[2] Reference: House of Commons Address: Privilege – Alberta Oil, A.M. Smith (March 31, 1949). Published by Linked Parliamentary Data Project
[3] Note: Mr. Smith or the transcriber appears to be mistaken, Schoepp Imperial No. 1 is south east of Edmonton, not north.
[4] Reference: The Discovery that Made History, Imperial Oil Ltd (1997). Reprinted by LeducNumber1.com
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