Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Corporation, also known as SaskOil, was a Canadian Crown corporation owned by the

Government of Saskatchewan The Government of Saskatchewan (french: Gouvernement de la Saskatchewan) refers to the provincial government of the province of Saskatchewan. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term "g ...

from 1973 to 1986, whem the company went public under the name Wascana Energy Inc. In 1987, the last remaining government interest in the corporation was sold to

Canadian Occidental Petroleum CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC, formerly known as Nexen, is a Canadian oil and gas company based in Calgary, Alberta. Originally the Canadian subsidiary of US-based Occidental Petroleum (known as Canadian Occidental Petroleum or CanOxy), ...

and in 1997 it was bought entirely by

Canadian Occidental CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC, formerly known as Nexen, is a Canadian oil and gas company based in Calgary, Alberta. Originally the Canadian subsidiary of US-based Occidental Petroleum (known as Canadian Occidental Petroleum or CanOxy), ...

History

Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Corporation, or SaskOil, was established in 1973 by the

as a Crown corporation. It was the first state-owned oil and gas company in North America, founded by

Saskatchewan New Democratic Party The Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP) is a social-democratic political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It currently forms the official opposition, but has been a dominant force in Saskatchewan politics since the 1940s. The p ...

Premier

Allan Blakeney Allan Emrys Blakeney (September 7, 1925April 16, 2011) was the tenth premier of Saskatchewan from 1971 to 1982, and leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP). Early life and career Born in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Blakeney took his ...

. It was responsible for

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 ...

and

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 ...

exploration, extraction, and marketing in the province of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

. In 1986, Premier

Grant Devine Donald Grant Devine, SOM (born July 5, 1944) was the 11th premier of Saskatchewan from May 8, 1982 to November 1, 1991. Early life Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, he received a BSc in Agriculture degree specializing in Agricultural Economics i ...

from

Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan The Progressive Conservative Party of Saskatchewan is a conservative political party in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Prior to 1942, it was known as the Conservative Party of Saskatchewan. Members are commonly known as Tories. History ...

privatized it by selling the majority of the company to the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

. Its name was changed to Wascana Energy Inc and shares were made available on the public markets. In 1987, the last remaining government interest in the corporation was sold to

. In 1997,

Talisman Energy Talisman Energy Inc. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1993 and 2015. The company was created from the assets of BP Canada after British Petroleum divested its 57 percent stake in June 1992. It was one of Canada ...

initiated a

hostile takeover In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to t ...

of Wascana Energy. However,

(later known as Nexen and now CNOOC International) countered this as a white knight and responded with a higher bid, which was supported by Wascana Energy's board of directors.

Operations

In 1997, Wascana was one of the top three oil and gas producers in Canada, producing 115,000 barrels of oil equivalent in Northern Canada and 264,000 worldwide, with international interests in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

and

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Corporation Defunct oil and gas companies of Canada Natural gas companies of Canada Defunct companies of Saskatchewan Companies based in Saskatchewan Energy companies established in 1975 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1975 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1986 Crown corporations of Saskatchewan Former Crown corporations of Canada Non-renewable resource companies established in 1986 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 1997 1975 establishments in Saskatchewan 1986 disestablishments in Saskatchewan 1986 establishments in Saskatchewan 1997 disestablishments in Saskatchewan