Oil And Gas In Western Canada

Winner of the 2014 Book of the Year Award from the Petroleum History Society!The importance of energy to the functioning of any economy has meant that energy industries are amongst the most regulated of industries. What might appear to be purely private decisions are made within a complex and evolving web of government regulations. Petropolitics: Petroleum Development, Markets and Regulations, Alberta as an Illustrative History provides an economic history of the petroleum industry in Alberta as well as a detailed analysis of the operation of the markets for Alberta oil and natural gas, and the main governmental regulations (apart from environmental regulations) faced by the industry. The tools used within this study are applicable to oil and gas industries throughout the world.

Overview of the oil and gas industry in Alberta and Saskatchewan from its beginnings in the 1850s to the present. The booklet covers how the industry began; how oil and gas are formed; methods of exploration and of production of conventional oil, heavy oil and oil sands; processing and refining of both gas and oil; and the pipelines and other machinery which deliver the oil and gas to consumers.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Conservation Board, created by the Alberta government in 1938, ensured that the province's petroleum resources were utilized in a manner that protected the long-term public interest.