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T.P. 3398 NATURAL GAS IN THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA, CANADA J. F. DOUGHERTY, EMPIRE TRUST CO., NEW YORK, N. Y., MEMBER AIME; ANTHONY FOLGER, DeGOLYER AND Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/JPT/article-pdf/4/10/241/2238979/spe-952241-g.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 MacNAUGHTON, DALLAS, TEX.; HOWARD R. LOWE, DElHI OIL CORP., DALLAS, TEX.; JOFFRE MEYER AND E. G. TROSTEL, DeGOL YER AND MacNAUGHTON, DAllAS, TEX., MEMBERS AIME ABSTRACT have been found since 1945. Sixty fields currently are produc­ ing gas, including 22 non-associated gas accumulations. The status of the natural gas industry in Alberta, Canada, Location of the oil and gas fields and prospects in the is described with particular reference to the current extent province of Alberta is shown in Fig. 1, together with a list of natural gas reserves and possibilities for additional develop­ of the localities of measurable gas, Fig. 1A. ment. Certain major fields are discussed as representative of The estimated total provincial gas reserve as of Jan. 1, 1952, the types of gas accumulations within various broad geographi­ for the 104 fields estimated, is 11.7 trillion cu ft proved and cal divisions of the provinces. The estimation of the future probable, and for the 187 known areas capable of production performance of a gas reservoir is discussed as the basis for is in excess of 16 trillion cu ft on a total proved, probable, and an estimate of the future availability of natural gas from possible basis. Five fields (Pincher Creek, Leduc-Woodbend, presently known reserves. The future availability of the pro­ Viking-Kinsella, Cess ford and Medicine Hat) are estimated vincial reserves and the estimated future demand for gas to have recoverable reserves of more than one trillion cu ft within the province are described. each. A sixth field, Turner Valley, was initially in this group, but its reserves have been depleted substantially. Twenty-four fields, of which the above mentioned six fields are a part, have estimated gas reserves (including the possible category) in excess of 100 billion cu ft. These 24 fields account for 79 per INTRODUCTION cent of the total provincial reserves. Comparative systemic analyses reflect that 56 per cent of Thi5 paper is a condensation of a detailed study of the Alberta's gas reserves are contained in sediments of Cretaceous natural gas reserves and the future availability of pipeline age; 30 per cent in sediments of Mississippian age; 10 per gas in the province of Alberta as prepared for Trans-Canada cent in sediments of Devonian age; three per cent in sediments Pipe Lines Limited and presented in public hearings at of Triassic age; and the remaining one per cent in Jurassic Edmonton and Calgary before the Petroleum and Natural and Permo-Pennsylvanian sediments. It is expected that the Gas Conservation Board of the Province of Alberta. The study relative importance of the Mississippian, Devonian, and Trias­ hegan in October, 1950. and resulted in the preparation of sic sediments will bt' increased as exploration progresses. five volumes of data at the expenditure of more than 20,000 man-hours. This paper is designed to afford a broad picture with detail limited to a type example of both natural ga­ accumulation and future availability of gas supply_ GENERAL GEOLOGY The province of Alberta has an area of 255,285 square miles which, for sake of comparison, is 8,359 square miles The western Canada basin comprises the sedimentary area smaller than the state of Texas. Natural gas was first discov­ between the Canadian Shield and the Rocky Mountain Front ered in 1883 at the -now abandoned Alderson well located some Range, the Arctic Ocean, and the International Boundary. 20 miles southeast of the town of Princess. The first gas in The basin has an approximate area of 765,000 square miles and eommercial quantities was found at Medicine Hat in 1890. embraces parts of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan. During the last 68 years. 187 localities have been discovered Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. which are capable of gas produetion. and 7.3 per cent of these Generalized columnar sections for the Province of Alberta lReferences given at end of paper. are shown in Fig. 2. Substantially all of Alberta, except its Manuscript received in the Petroleum Branch offiC'e Feb.!. 1952. northeast corner, has sedimentary cover. Sediments of all the Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the AIME in New York City. E"eb_ 18-21, 1952. geologic systems are rt'presentt'd. except those of Silurian age. Vol. 195, 1952 PETROlEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME 241 T.P. 3398 NATURAL GAS IN THE PROVINCE OF ALBERTA, CANADA Ordovician sediments are present only in the Rocky Mountain tiary time, and most of Alberta was emergent during the Ceno­ belt of Alberta and in the southeastern corner of the province. zoic and continued erosion developed the physiographic fea­ Great thicknesses of Tertiary sediments occupy parts of the tures which characterize the present topography of the Alberta syncline, but this interval represents a small portion province. of Tertiary time. Throughout about one-half of the province, The principal periods of orogeny were the Nevadan Hevo­ in the north and east parts, Cretaceous sediments rest directly lution at the close of the Jurassic and the Laramide Revolution on Devonian rocks.,,2 The two principal overlapping rock units at the close of the Cretaceous which culminated in the develop­ are of Cretaceous and Upper Devonian age. In a northeast­ ment of the Rocky Mountains and the deepening of the Alberta southwest line (normal to the regional strike) between the syncline. Foothills Belt and the Canadian Shield, Cretaceous sediments overlap progressively the stratigraphic section from Jurassic to pre-Cambrian. East of the Alberta syncline, the sediments of Jurassic through Mississippian thin to zero forming several wedge-out belts many hundreds of miles in length. Through­ out some 20,000 square miles of the Peace River Ridge, STRUCTURAL CHARACTER OF THE Devonian rocks rest on the pre-Cambrian. Over the apical area PROVINCE of this ridge, high Upper Devonian sediments rest on pre­ Cambrian, with successively older Devonian rocks developing Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/JPT/article-pdf/4/10/241/2238979/spe-952241-g.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 The principal structural alignment of Alberta is northwest flankward. and southeast. Many of the local producing structures are superimposed on these regional folds and have a more north­ south trend. The chief structural features are the Rocky Moun­ tains, the folded and faulted Foothills Belt,""" the Alberta GEOLOGIC HISTORY syncline, the Sweetgrass arch, the Alberta shelf, the Moose Jaw-Mackenzie syncline, and the Peace River Ridge. The sedimentary history of the Western Canada Basin has The Alberta shelf, instead of being a single homocline, been discussed in considerable detail in a recent paper by appears to consist of a series of semi-parallel northwest-south­ J. B. Webb.' east regional anticlines and synclines of low relief which per­ The major portion of the clastic sediments composing the sist for long distances and develop shallow local closures. Some of the Devonian reefs are associated with these axes, sedimentary section of the province of Alberta was derived and their orientation generally follows a structural pattern. from the west. During certain depositional periods these sedi­ ments were deposited relatively close to the present Rocky While many of the known tectonic features of Alberta have Mountains, while at other times the seas extended into Sas­ Paleozoic counterparts and result from several periods of katchewan or heyond. A relatively small thickness of clastics recurrent movement, the principal orogeny took plaee in Ne­ present in eastern and central Alherta were derived from the vadan and Laramide time. The Alberta shelf area is charac­ Canadian Shield. terized by gentle folding, and no great subsurface structural features are known which are similar to those prevalent in Lower and Middle Cambrian sediments accumulated in the the Mid-Continent area of the United States. The closest Cordilleran geosyncline which later became the site of the approach to such a feature is the Peace River Ridge. present Rocky Mountains. Upper Cambrian time witnessed general submergence of the province and the usual succession of Upper Cambrian sediments, so characteristic of central North America, were deposited. From the end of the Cambrian to the he ginning of the upper Devonian, Alberta was mostly emergent except for local deposits of Ordovician and the RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF RESERVOIR development of a deep Middle Devonian evaporite hasin in the eastern portion of the province. During Upper Devonian time TYPES AND THEIR STRATIGRAPHIC the presence of shallow seas over most of the central region DISTRIBUTION of Alherta made possible the widespread growth of reefs. Between the beginning of Upper Devonian and the hegin­ Most of Alberta's oil and gas fields have been discovered so ning of Cretaceous time, the province of Alberta east of the recently that it is still too early to name the controlling factor Rocky Mountain Front Range was generally an area of sub­ in reservoir traps and recovery mechanisms. Despite incom­ sidence in the Foothills Belt and was emergent throughout plete data, certain generalized trends suggest the relative im­ most of the rest of the province. Important exceptions were portance of structural vs stratigraphic traps and depletion the accumulation of Devonian and Mississippian sediments in vs waterdrive recovery mechanisms of these gas accumulations. the southeastern portion and parts of the central portion of Structurally controlled accumulations relatively uncompli­ the province. Although sediments of Triassic age are present cated by elements of stratigraphic trapping, are limited in generally throughout the Foothills Belt, it is significant that number and distribution.

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