The Petro Ninja – Enlighten Geoscience Well of the Week follows up on the tale of the Lodgepole Blowout by for October is a focus on the well that launched the modern Canadian oil and gas industry: 100/05-22-00-26W4/00 otherwise, and better, known as Leduc No. 1. The story has been told countless times, so what new light can the WotW shed on this well? Let us see.
George Longphee was a pioneer in the industry and involved in choosing the 5-22 location. He was also my sister-in-law’s father, and while combing through some of George’s papers from his time in Libya she came across his notes on the tops as they came in. He would use these to adjust his seismic interpretation as the drilling progressed. A copy of these notes is shown in the well panel. He had amazing stories of how the Devonian was the back-up zone, and the initial prognosis stopped up-hole from the Devonian. But the wellsite geologist convinced Imperial to continue to test the anomaly below.
The 5-22 well was abandoned in 1974 with a respectable cumulative production total of 317,716 bbls of oil and 322,089 mcf of gas. And an entire modern industry as an descendent.
A transcript of a Glenbow/University Petroleum Industry Oral History Project interview with George Longphee may be found here: https://lnkd.in/gy4Hqc5