ABSTRACT
All discoveries in Canada in 1944 were in Alberta. These are as follows: Jumpingpound area, 20 miles west of Calgary on the eastern edge of the Foothills where at a depth of 9,947 feet in Mississippian limestone production of gas with oil was obtained; the Princess area, 125 miles east of Calgary where at less than 4,000 feet oil was obtained in Devonian limestone; Conrad, 20 miles southwest of Taber with production in the Ellis (Jurassic sand) at a depth of about 2,970 feet; West Taber or Barnwell, 3 miles west of Taber, with production in the Taber sand of Lower Cretaceous age at a depth of about 3,250 feet. Important extensions were made particularly at Lloydminster on the boundary between Saskatchewan and Alberta where wells on the south and west gave promise of greatly extending the producing areas in this district and in north Turner Valley where a discovery was made on a fault block west of the producing area but constituting a part of the main Turner Valley structure.
In the McMurray area of Alberta the plant of Abasand Oils Ltd., sponsored by the Dominion Government, was put into operation. This is the experimental plant to mine the Athabaska bituminous sands and extract oil from them to determine if commercial operations are feasible.
In the Northwest Territories further drilling developed the Norman Wells field but no discoveries were made. Drilling in Southern Saskatchewan has been disappointing. Four deep wells were drilled in 1944 and several in western central Saskatchewan where some gas and heavy oil was found.
In eastern Canada two tests in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, failed to find production and a deep test on Prince Edward Island is suspended for the winter but not yet completed. Operations are continuing in the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec where seepages occur and small amounts of oil have been found by drilling.
