J.C. Anderson

You are out there matching wits against Mother Nature…You're trying to find this stuff that you can't see, you can't touch, that's all below the surface. It's exploration, in the true sense, and it's a pretty exciting game. J.C. Anderson, in Maclean’s Online Encyclopedia

James Carl Anderson was born in 1930. He studied petroleum engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. In the 1950s Anderson began working for Amoco and a promotion to chief engineer for Canada brought him to Calgary in 1966.

Two years later Anderson and a group of partners founded the Anderson Program, which concentrated on natural gas exploration. In 1982, six partners in Anderson's exploration bid amalgamated to form Anderson Exploration Limited. Anderson believed that natural gas held a great future. Anderson’s company was responsible for the Dunvegan, Alberta find which held 1.12 trillion cubic feet of gas. He expanded exploration operations across Canada.

The company also expanded through its many acquisitions including the takeover of Home Oil in 1995. Ironically, Anderson was competing with his old employer Amoco for Home Oil. He won and took over the debt-ridden company and further developed its gas properties. With the acquisition, Anderson Exploration also became the largest owner of exploration rights in the Mackenzie Delta-Beaufort Sea area. In 2000, Anderson was involved in exploratory drilling in the Mackenzie Delta, the first well in twenty years. The company had revenues of over $800 million. The decision was made, however, in 2000 to sell Anderson Exploration Ltd. to Devon Energy Corporation of Oklahoma City for US $ 3.4 billion. Anderson guided the company to the end.

J.C. Anderson has received awards for his strong leadership in the oil and gas industry. He was awarded the Milner-Fenerty Pinnacle Award in 1994 and the Prairies Region Master Entrepreneur of the Year in 1996. Recently, he received the Stanley Slipper Award from the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, and was inducted into the Petroleum Hall of Fame in 2001.