ALBERTA REPORTS 1994 DECLINE IN OIL, GAS RESERVES

Oil and gas reserves slid during 1994 in Alberta, easily Canada's No. 1 producing province. The Alberta Energy & Utilities Board (AEUB) pegged declines at 12% to 2.359 billion bbl for conventional crude and 2.9% to 52.9 tcf for gas despite a rapid pace of drilling activity. Industry drilled a record 9,1 00 wells during 1994 in Alberta, which accounts for 70% of Canada's total energy production.

June 5, 1995

2 min read

Oil and gas reserves slid during 1994 in Alberta, easily Canada's No. 1 producing province.

The Alberta Energy & Utilities Board (AEUB) pegged declines at 12% to 2.359 billion bbl for conventional crude and 2.9% to 52.9 tcf for gas despite a rapid pace of drilling activity.

Industry drilled a record 9,1 00 wells during 1994 in Alberta, which accounts for 70% of Canada's total energy production.

AEUB blamed the oil decline on reevaluation of water and solvent flood projects in many older fields, combined with production of 357 million bbl during the year. It expects this year's drop to return to a normal average of about 3-4%.

Exploratory drilling for oil climbed to a record level in 1994, topping the previous high set in 1985 by 15%.

Although oil development drilling for the year was 18% lower than the record set in 1983, it was 27% higher than the average of the previous 10 years. What's more, 1994 was only the third year in which industry drilled more than 2,000 development oil wells in Alberta.

Gas development wells led all Alberta drilling in 1994. The count of 2,799 such wells was a 55% increase from 1993.

Gas production advanced 7% to a record of almost 4.166 tcf. Rising demand for gas at home and in the U.S. fueled the increase.

Established oilsands reserves in potentially surface mineable areas rose 8.2 billion bbl to 40.3 billion bbl due to an increase in the recovery factor.

Reserves of crude bitumen from current surface mineable projects were 2.51 billion bbl at the end of 1994, down 115 million bbl from yearend 1993.