William Walter "Bill" Siebens (17 November 1933 – 29 June 2020) was an

American-Canadian American Canadians are Canadians of American descent. The term is most often used to refer to Canadians who migrated from or have ancestry from the United States. Demography According to the 2016 Census, 29,590 Canadians reported American as ...

oilman. He is best known as the founder and president of Siebens Oil and Gas Limited, a company that operated from 1965 until its sale in 1978.

Biography

William Walter Siebens was born in St. Louis, Missouri on 17 November 1933 to Dr. Harold Walter Siebens and Vera Wolf. He had two sisters, Nancy and Mary Jane, and a brother, Stewart. Siebens attended

Principia School The Principia is an educational institution for Christian Scientists located on two campuses in the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area of the United States. Principia School, located in Town and Country, West St. Louis County, serves studen ...

where he graduated from the upper school in 1951. During high school he was a member of the football, basketball, and swim teams. Upon graduation he enrolled at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

in petroleum engineering. He graduated bachelor of science in 1955. After university Siebens served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

for three years as a pilot. His service included a period in Libya. When his term in the Air Force was completed in 1958, Siebens moved to Calgary, Alberta, where his parents had relocated. His first job was managing Siebens Leaseholds Limited, a company his father had founded in 1950. In February 1965 he sold controlling interest in the company to Canadian Export Gas and Oil Limited. That same month he formed a new company called Siebens Oil and Gas Limited. The company was notable for acquiring highly productive acreage among the freehold lands of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...

. In August 1978, Dome Petroleum purchased a 76 percent stake in Siebens for $360 million. In 1977, Seibens Oil and Gas was sold through a deal one author described as a "financial masterpiece." The deal involved the purchase of Siebens for $38.50 per share, or a total value of $360 million, by the Canadian National Railways pension fund via a subsidiary called Canpar Oil and Gas Limited. Canpar then sold 76 percent of the Siebens assets to

Dome Petroleum Dome Petroleum Limited was a Calgary-based oil and gas company. Founded in 1950 as a subsidiary of the Toronto company Dome Mines Limited, Dome was built by Jack Gallagher, who remained with the company until 1983. In 1988 Dome was purchased by ...

. Through its status as a pension fund subsidiary, Canpar was exempted from paying taxes on the sale to Dome. Dome also qualified for tax write-offs on asset purchases. At the time of the sale, the Siebens family held 46 percent equity in the company. The sale netted Bill $40 million and Harold $120 million. After the takeover of Siebens Oil and Gas, Bill Siebens then became president of Candor Investments Ltd., a private energy investment corporation. He had also chaired the board of Sovereign Oil and Gas, a

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...

producer. It was bought by

Neste Oil Neste Oyj (international name: Neste Corporation; former names Neste Oil Corporation and Fortum Oil and Gas Oy) is an oil refining and marketing company located in Espoo, Finland. It produces, refines and markets oil products, provides eng ...

, the Finnish National Oil Company. In 1994, he joined ResoQuest Resources Ltd. as

chairman of the board The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

until it was sold two years later to Pinnacle Resources Ltd. He continued in the same leadership position with Pinnacle until it was sold to Renaissance Energy Ltd. in 1998. On 22 May 1961, Siebens married Clarice Adrienne Evans at Rundle United Church in Banff, Alberta."Engagements." ''Calgary Herald'', 29 April 1961, p. 25. The couple had three children, Carter, Rhondda, and Evann. The couple later divorced. Siebens remarried to Sharon. He died on 29 June 2020 at age 86.

References

1933 births 2020 deaths Canadian oilmen American emigrants to Canada People from St. Louis {{Canada-business-bio-stub