U.S. imperialism for Canada’s oil — grabs —EDMONTON. IL is the biggest single prospect in Western Can- adian industrial Spectacular development discoveries are making today. New and the nation onscious of its great potential oil resources. It hit the ont pages with ae splash when Imperial Oil’s high tout Wasn't as if oil were found °r the first time in the nether- regions of the prairies, for the discovery of oi] in the rich Tur- i Valley goes as far back as 914 with the activities of Cal- i Petroleum Products. Only ft year the total oil produc~ ai from all fields in Canada beet at an estimated 7,647,556 aay (35 imperial gallons to ‘© barrel), with over seven Nea barrels accounted for by © fields in Alberta. Baal until the Leduc discov- _ ee the dominant trend in Can- eae oil production was mark- hs ‘by the steady decline in dee aging Turner Valley output, ge ck the Alberta papas barre tt! for 1946 by 917, -, The gusher in L a lammed igs n Leduc s is & fact: Western Canada ‘Tich in oil resources. It came vie & curtain-raiser on a great ee tract of potential oil land Square miles, ere was something more _ FRmpay, avgusr 29, 1947 Uc wildcat blew in with a near-thousand barrels of quality crude oil daily in mid-February of this year. than an offset to the Turner Valley’s decline. It prompted exuberant opinion in western oil circles to characterize Wes- tern Canada “as one of the po- tentially great, still relatively undeveloped oil reserves,” Oc cupying “an important place in the oil economics of oil com- panies and of governmen RY Business interests are fully ‘aware of its significance — not only in relation to corporate profits, but ‘also in respect to the vast gamble of politics to- day. ; They view it in the light of what is termed the critical scarcity in the whole oil situa- tion. The United States, the leading producer, consumer and exporter of petroleum in the world, is using up its oil re- serves at a rate five time its rate of discovery of new do- --mestic reserves, using more oil Sprawls over thousands of — now than during the wartime peak. ; ‘ WASHINGTON news story, commenting upon this state of affairs, warns that the scarc- ity may reach such proportion -by fall as to tie up some ships of the U.S. navy for lack of fuel! Western Business and Indus- try, journal of the business in- terests in the West, observes that “foreign sources of oil are unreliable, subject to expropria- tion in time of peace, subject \to the use of the enemy in time of war. With US. oil re- sources dwindling, flush new ‘fields in Western Canada ap- pear as the only solution to supply.” This is the light in which the monopolists see major oil de- velopment in Western Canada, with primary emphasis upon its source of supply for U.S. mili- tary needs. It is oil to power the ambitions of U.S. imperial- ists, now launched upon their quest for world domination. It explains the large scale activities of Standard Oil and other monopolies in the “flush new fields of Western Canada.” Through its Canadian subsidiary, Imperial Oil Limited, it is mov- ing in upon the country’s rich oil resources, drawing through its tentacles some 30 percent of the national production, and con- solidating its position as the dominant interest. -itles, September, Thus the big oil boom now gathering force in the West be- longs—not to the people and their government — but, in the main, to Imperial (Standard) Oil, and such other major com- panies as Gulf Oil Corporation, Socony-Vacuum, Union Oil of California, Sun Oil and Phil- lips Petroleum Company, and McColl-Frontenac. Imperial Oil Limited, the leading company in the field, is approximately 70 percent con- trolled by Standard Oil of New Jersey—the evil genius behind much of the incessant strife and turmoil in many of the trouble spots of the world. Imperial Oil, in turn, holds about 68 percent of the stock in Royal- ite Oil Company Limited, In- ternational Petroleum Company Limited, Transit and Storage Company and Northwest Com- pany Limited. But the ramifi- cations of this vast oil empire are not stated so simply. Only a brief glimpse is given here. 6 ERIAL Oil Limited, ac- cording to the Financial Post Survey of Corporate Secur- 1946, holds a large acreage under lease in the oil-producing and potential oil- bearing areas in the West, with total production of its Cana- dian crude oil, separator naptha and absorption plant product re- ported at 2,632,625 barrels in \ 1945—mainly from its holdings in the Turner Valley field. This compares with three and . a half million barrels produc- tion in 1944, which declined due to curtailment for war purposes in the Norman Wells field. The Financial Post Survey shows that Imperial Oil and its subsidiaries held an interest in 198 oil and gas wells in the Turner Valley and 63 oil wells in the Norman Wells field. This was in 1945. Since that time, however, these figures have been increased. The Royalite Oil Company Limited, a subsidiary of Imper- ial Oil, is reported holding over 10,000 acres under lease in the Turner Valley, as well as large reservations in other parts of Alberta. At February 1, 1946, the company owned over 55 pro- ducing oil wells, some 60 pro- ducing gas wells, and held a direct interest in 11 other wells, six gas wells and several drill- ers. Foothills Oil and Gas Com- pany Limited, another subsidiary of Imperial Oil, owns 15 pro- ducing oi! wells in the Turner Valley, and owns 58 percent of outstanding shares in the South- west Petroleum Company Limit- ed, which owns five producing oil wells. And just to mention one other subsidiary of Imperial Oil Limited listed and described in the Survey, International Pe troleum Company Limited. All the preferred and approximately 60 percent of the common stock is held by Imperial. This company produces and refines crude oils, supplies local trade in South America and ex- ports to world markets. It owns producing property at Negritos, Peru, on which 2,017 (latest available report) producing wells are located. It owns a concession in Columbia with 1,- 128 producing wells, and owns a total capacity of refineries in Talara, Peru, and _ Barranco- Bermeja, Columbia, of 29,600 barrels daily. : In addition, this Imperial sub- sidiary owns a 25 percent in- terest in the Mene Grande Oil Company, Venezuela, and in the Mene Grande pipeline from eastern Venezuela to the port of Guanta. Exploration is under way in Ecuador, where the com- Rany holds the exclusive right to explore a tract of 10,000,000 acres. This company, in turn, operates through subsidiaries of its own. t ) WHUS we see the nature of the vast oil empire which has moved into Alberta and this country for the rich spoils exploitation. “It has annexed for itself one of the richest prizes yet uncov- ered in the great potential of our natural resources. Quietly it has proceeded with the job of entrenching and consolidating its dominant position in this field of oil. development and production. As the big boom breaks over the oil lands of the West, as break it will, Im- perial Oil will emerge as the monopoly in possession. Already the white glare of publicity attending the spectac- ular discoveries, and the attend- ant robbery of both the farm- ers in the Leduc and Calmar areas as well as the general in- terest of the people, bares much of what is happening in this “potentially great, still rel- atively undeveloped oil reserve.” And just as the business inter- ests recognize its place in the “oil economics of oil companies and of governments” today, - so the people of the West are slow- ly beginning to realize both the | economies and the politics of | olf in their daily life.