Development

The major light and medium crude oil producing fields are Pembina near Drayton Valley, Swan Hills-Judy Creek, Rainbow Lake-Zama, Redwater, Provost, Red Earth-Utikuma and Leduc-Woodbend. Major heavy crude oil producing fields are Lloydminster-Wainwright, Provost-Hayter, and Taber-Suffield-Medicine Hat.

With current oil production slightly exceeding new additions to known reserves, Alberta's remaining established conventional oil reserves totaled 342 million cubic metres at the end of 1996, excluding pentanes plus and condensate. Production continues to outpace additions to reserves and it might appear that Alberta could run out of conventional oil in a few decades. Every year, however, exploratory and development drilling and improvements to oil recovery techniques add more oil to the known reserves, which extends the time that conventional oil reserves will last. In addition, oil sands production continues to assume greater importance as production of conventional oil decreases.

Department of the Environment. State of the Environment Report, Terrestrial Ecosystems. Edmonton: n.p., 2001. With permission from Alberta Environment.