TURNER VALLEY - HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Exploratory drilling at Turner Valley was encouraged by the presence of gas seeps along the Sheep River. The Calgary Petroleum Products (Dingman) No.1 tests, spudded in 1913, hit hydrocarbon-bearing section on May 14, 1914 at a depth of 1158.3 (3800 feet) in Lower Cretaceous sandstones. Gas, naptha and light oil were recovered from several horizons. The Royalite No.4 well, started in 1922, was drilled to the Mississippian Rundle Group carbonates and in October 1924 discovered gas and condensate at a depth of 2068.9m (3507 feet). Following the Royalite No.4 discovery, numerous step outs were drilled along the strike and exploitation of the gas accumulation began with no serious thought of the possibility of an oil column. It was noted, however that several wells producing gas and naptha from the Mississippian on the west flank of the structure were yielding slightly discoloured product and the existence of an oil leg began to be suspected. In 1930 the Model No.1 well was completed at a depth of 1801.1m (5905 feet). The gravity of the produced distillate decreased steadily during the first few months of production and the existence of an oil leg became apparent. In 1936, after almost two years of drilling, Turner Valley Royalties No.1, near the south end of the field, struck oil at 1950.7m (6400 feet) and the era of oil production began at Turner Valley.

Like other producing structures in the Foothills, Turner Valley is a thrust fault trap. It is the only known important oil accumulation in the Alberta foothills. Until the discovery of Leduc in 1947, the Turner Valley Field was the principal source of oil and naptha in Alberta.

The combination of early surface geological mapping and nearby continuous drilling subsequent to the discovery of the accumulation led to an interesting evolution of thought concerning the nature of the trap, including stages involving a simple anticline and a decapitated anticline.

The following slightly adapted excerpt from Aubrey Kerr's book "Corridors of Time" provide some of the historical flavor from this area.

The City of Calgary, with admirable foresight but with no knowledge of leasing, made the first move to assert whatever oil and gas rights it might be able to acquire.

In 1911 the then Mayor Mitchell, with Alderman J.G. Watson, drove a stake on the land later to be occupied by Royalite's natural gasoline plant and the old Dingman well site.

They stated on the stake that "the subsurface was reserved to the City of Calgary". They did not make application for leases perhaps because of legal difficulties and the necessity of referring the mater to the rate payers.

Meanwhile Herron, who "until that time had not been financially able to develop the properties", made application along with his partner Michael Stoos, to the CPR for leases to the petroleum and natural gas contained in some 7,000 acres. Herron's next step was the formation of a syndicate with A.W. Dingman as a partner.

Herron then promoted his lands to Calgary citizens and on July 25, 1912, sold 55/100 of them. This was a total of $22,000 or $2,00 per member on condition that the purchasers agreed to expend $50,000 in development.

Calgary Petroleum Products Co. was formed by this group of local promoters led by A.W. Dingman. The original members were: Dingman, W.H McLaws, R.B Bennett, A. Judson Sayre, Sr. James A. Lougheed, O.G. Devenish, T.J.S. Skinner, William Pearce, Col. A.W. Price-Jones, Alfred E. Cross and O.S. Chapin.

The company was ready to begin drilling in January 1913.

Herron, remembering the seep, made it the location for "Calgary Petroleum Products No.1 Well" (Later Royalite No.1 in 14-6-20-2 W5m, sometimes referred to as Dingman No.1).

Drilled with cable tools plus five strings of casing, progress was slow. In October 1913, an "oil bearing sandstone and a small quantity of very light oil" was encountered at 1,556 ft.

Shut down for a number of months (to raise more capital?), it resumed and hit Cretaceous sands (later to be known as the Home sand) at a then tremendous depth of 2,718 ft. on May 13, 1914.

It flowed wet sweet gas. This was the well that sparked the first of many promotional booms in stocks when everyone stared a rush for leases, as little as ten acres in some instances.

It is said that hundreds of brokerage houses to promote stocks sprang up overnight in Calgary and as much as $500,000 changed hands daily.

With such prestigious names as Fidelity, Monarch, Prudential, Purity, Sterling and even Ottawa Petroleum, who dared question the wisdom of buying stocks in these companies with the absolute certainty of becoming rich overnight? Forty-four "drilling-outfits" began to operate, which in itself was a bullish signal.

Drilling activity suffered a five-year hiatus from the outbreak of World War One, until September, 1919.

Primitive plants were set up to recover the liquids from the gas. Neither organized production nor pipeline system was in place.

"The revenue thus obtained enabled the company (Calgary Petroleums) to maintain itself but was insufficient to properly develop the acreage which it held." Despite this, No.3 well was spudded on September 11, 1919.

However, disaster struck in the form of a fire which destroyed the plant. This brought an end to all operations and with it, cash flow.

Bennett had already become financially independent by 1909 through his associations with Senator Lougheed and Max Atiken (later Lord Beaverbrook). He could see that his equity in Calgary Petroleum Products was going to go down the drain if he did not move and move quickly. As a "substantial shareholder" he therefore "sought the interest of the late A.M. McQueen, President, Imperial Oil Limited".

A special general meeting of the shareholders of Calgary Petroleum Products was called for 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, December 21... the proposal to transfer all the assets and liabilities of the Calgary Petroleum Products Company into a new corporation plus Imperial's commitment of $400,000 to rebuild the plant and complete the drilling of two more wells were approved.

The new vehicle was Royalite Oil, named after Imperial's kerosene product. It was incorporated by Dominion Charter on January 18, 1921.

Regarding Royalite #4, the discovery well of the Mississippian gas cap which was spudded in 1922.

"Drilling was slow. It took 400 days to drill 2,890 ft. or an average of seven feet per day."

It wasn't until September 1923 that the well had reached that depth after having encountered a large flow of gas (five mmcf/d) from the Home sand. A clue for the reason for suspension of drilling shows up in the Department of Interior's Annual report for the year ending March 31, 1924:
The No.4 well ceased drilling in the fall to allow the gas (from the Home sand?) to be passed through the gasoline absorption plant and then turned into the gas line to supply the City of Calgary.

At 3,430 ft. the first indication of limestone was seen in the bailer. It must be remembered that holes drilled on the plains to this horizon had invariably found water, except on structures such as the Cutbank Field in northern Montana.

There was resistance to going any deeper. Some secondhand accounts indicated that Royalite was ready to stop drilling as soon as the lime was hit.

Clarence Snyder, driller, had been told not to go any deeper as they were figuring on abandoning.

Other accounts indicate that they had a few more dollars to spend and were going to finish up that tour. At any rate, on October 14, 1924, the well blew in while drilling at 3,740 ft. Snyder was supposedly run off for continuing to drill against orders but this has not been proven.

Enormous pressures, hitherto never experienced in Canada, were encountered: 1,150 psi. Four days later, on October 18, the well had been capped with a primitive valve but, within a few minutes, the pressure lifted both the 6¼ in.and 8¼ in. casings to the top of the derrick.

This pipe then fell back, tangling up the line which had been run in the hole to fish out the drilling tools, lodged as a result of the enormous flow of gas (estimated at 21.5 mmcf/d with a spray of light oil). On November 9, the gas caught fire and burned at both the top of the casing and in the cellar.

Gordon Webster remembers the late Mr. Hanna, then of Imperial's Calgary refinery, being ordered to line up seven boilers. These were brought out to provide steam to ultimately snuff out the fire.

By some means or another, a new wellhead was placed on the larger casing that was still in the hole and the gas diverted to a flow line. Unfortunately, this too caught fire and that created the need for yet another extinguishing.

Once it was brought under control, No.4 produced as much as 900 barrels per day of water-white gasoline.

Horse teams could no longer handle the situation and trucks were brought in to haul the liquid to Okotoks. Roads were impassable on many occasions and horse teams and trucks had to take the fields in order to get through. Surplus gas was flared over the edge of a nearby gully and this formed the "Hell's Half Acre" of Valley fame.

From, Historic Turner Valley, Cradle of Westen Canada's Oil and Gas Industry, pg 29-35