Producer Pipelines Ltd.
by Ian McDougall
The history of oil in Southeast Saskatchewan has been both exciting and dramatic.
The first exploratory well was drilled in the Oxbow area in the year 1880 when Saskatchewan was still a part of the North West Territories. It was drilled to a total depth of 155 feet, 4,000 feet short of oil bearing sands. One might say it was a "Jed Clampitt" attempt oil well attempt. Thirty-four years later another well called Souris-Valley #1 was spudded in, on December 28, 1914 on Sec. 24-17-W2 one mile south of Roche Percee. The recorded depth of this well also fell far short of pay dirt, as it was drilled to a depth of 226 feet and abandoned for lack of funds.
The big oil push came in the 1950's and after some failures, the first producing oil well in Southeastern Saskatchewan was drilled in the Ratcliffe area on 5-30-1-15-W2. This well was completed on November 17, 1952 and it spurred a frenzy of activity that eventually saw Estevan grow from about 4,500 persons to 9,999 and "one old grouch" as the Chamber of Commerce sign reads.
The year 1955 saw activity in the oil patch soar to unprecendented growth.
The seismic rigs came, the oils rigs came, the supply houses came and with all these came problems for Estevan.
Drilling rigs dotted the landscape and on any given night in the Steelman area one could count as many as thirty oil rigs grinding their way to black gold that has done so much to contribute to Saskatchewan's welath.
Estevan was ill equipped to handle the sudden influx of people; however, local citizens opened up their homes to house the oil people who came into their midst. Every available hotel room, every room in most private homes was put to use in the boom days. Building contractors flourished with the demand for new housing a top priority. New homes sprang up in Estevan's west end, and across the tracks in the area now called Pleasantdale and Estevan suddenly grew from a town into the Province's newest city.
At first the newcomers were looked on with some suspicion by some of the long time residents. Howecver a great majority of the people connected with oil were people filled with energy and drive. Soon they began to integrate socially with the local people and many community projects were undertaken. Community projects such as the stock car track, swimming pool, golf course, ball diamonds, the Regional Park, to name a few, were all aided by the gifts of men and material. Estevan prospered and the early growing pains were soon forgotten.
Besides the physical work they contrivuuted, the oil patch newcomers took their place in the affairs of the city. Many entered public office such as city council, school boards, church and service clubs, youth organizations, and so on.
Some 25 years have passed since the days of the oil boom. Where rural dirt roads were the order of the day in 1955, 1980 shows many of them are now hard surfaced municipal roads, which makes country driving a pleasure. Taxes from the oil installations contribute graedtly to the coffers of many rural municipalities in S.E. Sask, which are amongst the wealthiest in the province.
In addition to the new housing which sprang up, several trailer courts also sprouted up. A very large one was located at the old airport where Majestic Contractors dug in water and sewer lines to accomodate their transient pipeline staff. There was another large trailer camp in the east end of the city called Petterson's Trailer Court, while Jensen's Trailer Court on top of the valley on Souris Avenue, all sprang into service to help house the new found population. Estevan truly bulged at the seams. Even private homes allowed trailer parking privileges in their backyards to help the newcomers.
Sasktachewan produces more crude oil than any other province except Alberta. Southeast Saskatchewan produces two types of oil, light in the Steelman-Alida-Carnduff areas and medium in the Midale-Weyburn fields. The bulk of Saskatchewan oil is refined in the United States because of the high sulfur content which our refineries are unable to handle.
A gas plant was started in 1957 to collect the flare gas produced in the extraction of oil from the ground. The plant, commonly known as Steelman Gas Plant or Provo Gas is owned by Dome Petroleum of Calgary.
The number of producing wells as of January 1, 1979 in the Estevan-Weyburn-Carlyle triangle totalled three thousand, five hundred and seventeen. This breaks down to 1,500 wells producing medium crude and 2,017 producing light crude. Added to the oil production was 31,530 million cu. ft of gas per day, all contributing to the wealth of the area and the province. As of 1979 records, the Estevan area produces some 30 million barrels of oil per year. The cumulative production from the Estevan region amounts ot 966 million barrels of oil.
Over the years, 22,240 wells have been drilled in the never ending search for oil and gas. Thirty-one per cent of the natural gas supplies for Saskatchewan customers, comes from Saskatchewan wells, the balance comes from Alberta where gas is more plentiful.