Leduc #2 Hits the Jackpot
A good omen indeed. The previous day, on a location a couple of kilometers south-southwest of the first well, Imperial had spudded in Leduc #2. Testing the D2 layer of that well- the source of oil for Leduc #1- had been disappointing, and those on the spot had faced a dilemma. Should the well be abandoned or was it worth going deeper? The problem was solved when the drill bit unexpectedly encountered a layer of porous dolomite- a potential oil reservoir material- at 1,637 metres. Aubrey Kerr, who was in charge of geology for the Leduc field at the time and was at the well site that day, ordered drilling to stop and decided to have a sample of rock tested for oil. Initial results were negative, but nonetheless, success was not long in coming. As dawn broke on May 7, 1947, oil began flowing from a completely new and prolific producing zone- the soon-to-be-famous D3 formation. The drill bit had penetrated an oil-bearing Devonian reef, and Imperial had hit the jackpot. Subsequent exploration determined that the D3 reservoir covered some 8,863 hectares in the 350-to-400 million-year-old Devonian formation and that the 12 metre-thick producing layer contained about 390 million barrels of oil.
More important still, perhaps, was the fact that the discovery had uncovered a vital secret for Alberta’s oil industry. It demonstrated for the first time that oil-bearing Devonian reef structures existed in the western provinces. Before Leduc, conventional thinking among Canada’s geologists was that oil in central Alberta would most likely be found at a shallower level, in Cretaceous rock.
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