Panarctic Oils Limited was formed in 1966 as a result of the

Canadian government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-in-C ...

's eagerness to encourage exploration of the

Canadian Arctic islands The Arctic Archipelago, also known as the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is an archipelago lying to the north of the Canadian continental mainland, excluding Greenland (an autonomous territory of Denmark). Situated in the northern extremity of No ...

and to assert

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

sovereignty in the region. That company consolidated the interests of 75 companies and individuals with Arctic Islands land holdings plus the

Federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

as the major

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...

. It played an important part in the development of the petroleum industry in Canada.

History

The company had a long and complicated birth. When the deal was complete in 1968, the Federal government held 45% of the new company's

equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

. Panarctic marked the Federal government's first direct entry into the oil and gas business, except for a brief period of involvement during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After its formation, the company became the principal oil and gas operator in the Arctic Islands. In 1976, the federal government transferred its stake to

Petro-Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

who later raised its stake to 53%.

Exploration

In that role it spent some $900 million and was the operator for perhaps three fourths of more than 175

wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

drilled in the high Arctic. Panarctic began its exploration program with seismic work and then drilling in the Arctic Islands. By 1969 its Drake Point gas discovery was probably Canada's largest

gas field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

. Over the next three years came other large gas fields in the islands. These and later discoveries established reserves of of dry, sweet

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. The company also discovered

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

- on the islands at Bent Horn and Cape Allison, offshore at Cisco and Skate. Exploration moved offshore when Panarctic began drilling wells from "ice islands" - not really islands, but platforms of thickened ice created in winter by pumping sea water on the polar ice pack. Oil was discovered in 1974 at Bent Horn N-72, the first well drilled on

Cameron Island Cameron Island is one of the uninhabited members of the Queen Elizabeth Islands in the Canadian arctic islands in Nunavut, Canada. Located in the Arctic Ocean, close to Bathurst Island, it has an area of , long and wide. Île Vanier lies imme ...

Production

In 1985, the company became a commercial oil producer in the Arctic on an experimental scale. This began with a single tanker load of oil from the Bent Horn oil field to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

via the MV Arctic. The MV Arctic carried two shipments per year until Bent Horn operations ceased in 1996.

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Calgary Non-renewable resource companies established in 1966 Defunct oil and gas companies of Canada Economic history of Canada Oil and gas companies Petroleum industry in Canada 1966 establishments in Alberta Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2000 2000 disestablishments in Alberta