In February, 1947, oil was struck in Leduc AB which would soon become known as the largest discovery in Canada in 33 years. A year prior to the discovery, Imperial Oil Limited had spent $23 million on oil exploration in Western Canada and had drilled 133 consecutive dry holes producing few tangible results. By November 1946 Imperial was resigned to drilling six last chance wells of which one was named Leduc #1, a wildcat well located 15km west of Edmonton and over 80km away from any previous drillings.

Leduc Oil Discovery

Throughout the winter drilling continued and on February 3rd, 1947, oil was finally struck and gushed from Leduc #1. The discovery would be the seminal event in the Canadian oil industry, triggering an oil boom whose effects are still widely visible today. By the end of 1947, 147 more wells were drilled in the Leduc–Woodbend oilfield resulting in a 300–million-barrel discovery. The original well, Leduc #1, was capped in 1974, after producing 300,000 barrels of oil and 9 million cubic metres of natural gas. Its effects on Alberta remain strong to this day.