Recent oil developments in Canada have been largely restricted to Alberta. Some exploratory work, including drilling, has been carried on in northeastern British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and the Maritime provinces. Geophysical exploration in Alberta has reached an all time high with forty seismographs, nine gravity meters, one magnetometer and a number of core drills and stratigraphic drills operating. This work has been largely concentrated in the Central Plains, although the Southern Plains and foothills are receiving considerable attention. Recent important discoveries, in addition to the Leduc oil field which produces oil from two dolomite zones in the Upper Devonian as well as from a Lower Cretaceous sand, include the Gulf Pincher Creek Mississippia limestone gas and condensate discovery in the southern foothills, and Imperial's Redwater No. 1 well which appears to have found another Devonian oil field thirty miles northeast of Edmonton. Other recent finds include a small Lower Cretaceous sand discovery at Bantry jointly by California Standard and Imperial, several pool extensions in the Lloydminster oil field, a gas discovery in the Cretaceous Peace River sand of the Peace River district of northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta by Pacific Petroleums Limited, and a small heavy oil discovery by Bata Petroleums near the Alberta-Saskatchewan boundary eighty miles south of Lloydminster in a Lower Cretaceous sand.

One hundred and thirty wells were drilled in Alberta during the first six months of 1948. Using the A.A.P.G. classification, there were 110 completions, 74 of which were field development and 36 exploratory wells. Five field development wells were dry holes. Considering the exploratory wells, 5 outpost wells were successful and 5 were dry holes. Among the new field wildcats, Imperial's Woodbend No. 1, north of Leduc, discovered what is probably a new pool. Of the approximately 165,000,000 acres comprising the Province of Alberta, approximately 41,000,000 acres are currently held under lease or reservation.

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