Leduc #1 Energy Discovery Centre

Our Mission

The Leduc #1 Energy Discovery Centre exists to preserve and display oilfield and related artifacts of the past for the cultural and historical benefit of future generations and to educate individuals about environment and energy industry related matters.

Glimpse into the past

Glimpse into the past


  

Interactive Alberta Resource Map

Want to know what natural resources are to be found in your area? Push one of the many buttons on our interactive map and find out!

 

Our Murals

 
The land around the wild well Atlantic #3 became so saturated and weak that it cratered in, swallowing the drilling rig and resulted in a fire that burned for 3 days until it could be put out.
Fire at Atlantic #3		 <p>The History of Crude Oil - Follow the evolution of oil production in this photo from cable tool drilling to offshore production. This painting sits in the hall of fame room on the second floor of the Interpretive Centre. </p>
Black Gold		 Since the major discovery of Leduc #1, the farmer and the oil companies have had to learn to work together. You can learn more about this with our video presentation
Wilson Int’l Quarter Horse		 This mural vividly illustrates how Leduc #1 acted as a catalyst for oil discovery in Alberta and across Canada.
Progress of Canadian Oil		 Learn the story of the worst blowout in Leduc County. It all happened in 1948 when Atlantic drilling rig #3 lost circulation and the well blew wild for 7 months.
Atlantic #3

 

Our Models

 
Each length of drill pipe is 30 feet long and costs an average of $50 a foot. This cost varies greatly depending on the time of year and the quality of the pipe. Using this average, 300 joints of pipe (or 9,000 feet) would cost half a million dollars.
Drill pipe detail		 If you see a modern style drilling rig like this one out in the field you can quickly determine if it is a triple, double or single by counting the number of lengths of drill pipe that sit in the rack. How many lengths can you see on the right hand side of this rig? (This is a triple.)
Jack-Knife Land Rig		 The most common type of offshore drilling rig is also known as a Semi Submersible drilling rig. A Canadian tragedy occured just off our East Coast, near NewFoundland, on a rig similar to this one called the Ocean Ranger. Come hear the story as you tour the Interpretive Centre. Model built by Vern Blinn.
Ocean-Spray Pontoon Rig		 Used to drill a cluster of wells on a slant or angle in all terrain and in environmentally sensitive areas. Model built and donated by North Eastern Drilling Ltd.
Slant Hole Drilling Rig		 This model demonstrates the ability to drill more than one well from the same rig.
Bilateral Drilling
A working model of a percussion style-drilling rig with a wooden derrick. This is an early type of rig that drilled a hole by slowly raising and dropping a heavy drill bit and pounding a hole into the ground. Model built by Garnet Edwards.
Cable Tool Drilling Rig		 Columbia Class Jack-Up - This type of off-shore drilling rig is used in shallow water, as the legs are standing on the ocean floor, and the drilling platform can be “jacked” up or down as needed. The legs of this model are equivalent to 600 feet. Model built by Vern Blinn.
Offshore Drilling Rig		 The type of production method visible here is SAG-D or Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage. This method is used to recover heavy oil. The top well is introducing high-pressure steam into the formation, causing the heavy oil to “melt”. It “drips” down with the help of gravity, into the perforated pipe on the bottom, which then carries the oil to the surface.
Directional Drilling		 Do you notice anything different about this drilling rig? This type of rig has 4 engines allowing it to drill deeper wells. Typical land rigs, like the Jack Knife rig has only 2 engines.
Ideco Full View		 Smaller truck mounted drilling rig and equipment used to “work-over” or repair an existing oil or gas well.
Service Rig

 

Indoor Collections

 
As part of a seismic crew, this jug hustler is laying Geophones to measure vibrations caused by thumping trucks or a dynamite blast. The results will help determine if an area has good potential for oil or gas. Bronze sculpture by John Weaver.
The Jug Hustler		 Women have often had a vital role to play in the production and discovery of oil. Learn about women in the oil industry through the history of Desk and Derrick Club.
Desk and Derrick		 Names of oil field workers, supporters and crewmembers of Leduc #1 can be found on this wall inside of the Interpretive Centre.
Wall of Honor		 See the many different sizes, shapes and styles of drilling bits used to drill wells around the world.
Bit by Bit		 Computer games let you drill for oil, learn about the economic impact of oil and play games that will teach you about the environment and geological formation of oil.
Computer Games
You might be surprised to learn how many common household items are derived from oil and gas.
Petrochemical Products		 Striking a deal with the landowner before you drill the well isn’t always easy. If you were a farmer in the late 1940’s what would you ask for in your deal?
Landmen		 In 1948, a well in Leduc County blew wild for 17 months, spilling oil and gas. Learn how it was brought under control and cleaned up, teaching the oil industry some important lessons.
Atlantic #3		 Notice the different sizes and shapes of the drilling teeth. Different shapes are needed for different formations.
Mighty Bits		 What’s he looking for? Why signs of oil of course. Before a well is ever drilled a surface geologist must look for clues. Bronze sculpture by John Weaver.
The Surface Geologist
Who said you would never get anywhere playing in the mud? Mud or drilling fluid is a major consideration (and expense) when drilling a well.
Drilling Fluid Display		 Flowing Wellhead and Christmas Tree Assembly - There is a present under this Christmas Tree- it’s oil and gas!
Flowing Wellhead		 Once a geologist has identified a location, the well can be drilled. The roughneck or the floorhand is the “rookie” on the crew who has to do the heavy work, like joining the pipe. Bronze sculpture by John Weaver.
The Roughneck		 It is “shocking” what these tools can do. When you are drilling and having trouble, downhole tools like these can get you out of a jam. Donated by Cougar Tools.
Downhole Drilling Tools		 These could be called “The Crown Jewels of the Oil Patch”. Hard hats like these ones are for decoration only, but they can also represent significant achievements.
Hard Hats
Even equipment needs a rest. This Tong was sold to TIMCO in 1979 in Louisiana, USA. It was retired after running 4,809,000 feet of casing offshore.
Hydraulic Power Tong		 Controlling the flow of oil and gas from the well is the job of the production man or woman. The production valve is also called a Christmas Tree Valve, due to it’s many “branches” or arms. Bronze sculpture by John Weaver.
The Production Man

 

Outdoor Collections

 
This pack off from the 1950s is used when you are drilling a well under pressure.
Air Drilling Pack Off		 This tire is a major brand manufactured in the U.S.A. Its prime use is on heavy duty mining trucks. This particular tire was used at the Suncor facility in Fort McMurray, AB. It is a Michelin tire, size 59/80R63 XDR Off Road, tuvless steel cord tire. It is a low pressure tire with a maximum of 115 P.S.I. It has approximately 60 plus plies, weighing in at 13,000 pounds and is 13 feet high. The cost of such a tire is approximately $45,000.00 - $60,000.00. At one point in recent years this tire was sold in the price range of $255,000.00.
Michelin Tire		 A BOP is a very important piece of safety equipment, it sits below the drilling floor, on the surface where the drill pipe enters the ground. This BOP is from the 1950s and weighs 2,000 pounds.
Blow Out Preventer		 On the floor of the 1940s conventional derrick, you can see equipment, like this swivel, bale and kelly hose, up close.
Swivel		 This Allis-Chalmers Crawler Tractor with Baker Bulldozer was operated by the Leduc Construction Company in September 1946, to prepare Imperial oil’s Leduc #1 Discovery wellsite. Restored, donated and installed by Ledcor Industries Ltd.<br />
Bulldozer
This large bit (13 3/8ths inches) is used when you are just starting to drill a well. It weighs over 300 pounds.
Surface Bit		 This pumpjack pumped the last barrel of oil produced from the Leduc #1 well in 1974. In it’s lifetime, this well produced 318,000 barrels of oil, 324,000 MCF natural gas and 9,000 barrels of water.
Leduc #1 Pumpjack		 Built in 1950, this drilling rig was used all across Canada to drill shallow holes for Seismic Crews to place their dynamite charges in.
Seismic Drilling Rig		 Fishing for a drilling crew is not a day off. Tools like these are used to
Fishing Tools		 This service rig was mounted on the back of an old army surplus truck and was the first to service the Leduc/Woodbend field.
Dan Widney Service Truck
This is a rig similar in type to the one that drilled Leduc #1. Rig’s like this one had to be built rung by rung, bolt by bolt, from the ground up and could take a crew of 6 up to one week to put in place.
Conventional Derrick		 Not as instantly recognizable as today's pumpjack, this style of pumpjack was used on shallow wells in Ontario and Montana over 80 years ago.
Old Style Pumpjack		 This rock from White Man Gap near Canmore, Alberta is a rock type of late Devonian Age. This rock type is an outcrop equivalent to the major producing Leduc formation, Leduc/Woodbend, A-Pool.
Dolostone Rock		 The name “jack knife” refers to how the derrick is erected. The derrick (the tower) on this type of rig is all one piece and is “jacked” up into position. Still in running condition, this rig is operated during special events and allows our volunteer crew to run into over ---- feet of hole.
Jack-knife Drilling Rig		 This large refurbished Pump Jack is now part of the Battery Site display and was donated by Lufkin Industries Canada Ltd.  Built in the ‘20s this unit was used by Imperial Oil in the early days of the industry here in Alberta.
Lufkin Pump Jack
This is the top half of a wellhead, a casing bowl would sit underneath it. This style is used to produce 2 zones from the same well.
Dual Completion Wellhead		 (Wooden Derrick) Built by volunteers between 2002-2003, this working rig demonstrates how oil and gas were drilled for in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Western Canada.
Cable Tool Rig

 

 
 
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