Formerly | Hudson's Bay Marland Oil Company |
---|---|
Industry | Petroleum |
Founded | 6 November 1926 |
Defunct | 10 March 1982 |
Fate | Acquired by Dome Petroleum |
Headquarters | Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Building, 320 7 Avenue SW, |
Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company Limited was a Canadian non-integrated petroleum company that operated between 1926 and 1982. Originally called the Hudson's Bay Marland Oil Company (HBMOC), it was founded as a joint venture between the Hudson's Bay Company and the Marland Oil Company with the purpose of producing oil on land where the HBC held mineral rights. In 1929 the Continental Oil Company (Conoco) purchased Marland Oil and reformed the HBMOC as the Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company (HBOG). By the 1960s HBOG had become the third largest oil producer in Canada. Between 1981 and 1982, Dome Petroleum, also based in Calgary, acquired HBOG for $4 billion in what was then the most expensive takeover in Canadian history. The purchase by Dome ultimately contributed to its own demise in 1988, at which time it was acquired by Amoco Canada.
The Hudson's Bay Company, founded in 1670, is one of Canada's oldest businesses and played a major part in the country's development. By means of the original charter Charles II granted it, the HBC gained full possession of Rupert's Land, a territory stretching from the Rocky Mountains to the Great Lakes. The HBC sold Rupert's Land in 1870 to the Dominion of Canada, which had been formed in 1867, for $1.5 million. However, it retained title to 7.5 million acres, or five percent of the territory. After 1870 Hudson's Bay continued to sell its land (including mineral rights) to settlers, however, after 1889 it began retaining the mineral rights. Between 1909 and 1925 these rights were disputed in British courts, and the result was the HBC was deemed to hold all mineral rights excluding precious metals. [1]
The HBC's entrance into the oil and gas industry was initiated by the American oilman Ernest Whitworth Marland (1874–1941). Marland had made a fortune in the oil business in Pennsylvania in the early 1900s, and after losing much of his wealth in 1907, made a second fortune in Oklahoma during the 1910s and 1920s. Although Marland never visited Canada during his lifetime, he kept abreast of the country's oil industry and was intrigued by the developments in Alberta's Turner Valley. During a 1926 trip to London, Marland met with the Hudson's Bay Company governor Charles Vincent Sale (1868–1943) and proposed a new venture to develop oil reserves on Hudson's Bay land. The proposal saw that Marland would have a 25-year option to lease any Hudson's Bay land, and in return would pay a royalty to the HBC on any oil or gas that he produced. Sale and Marland agreed to the proposal and each contributed $100,000 to the new company, named the Hudson's Bay Marland Oil Company Limited. [2] At the time of the new company's formation, the Hudson's Bay Company held the mineral rights to around 4.5 million acres across Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. [3]
The original Hudson's Bay Marland Oil Company was mostly unsuccessful. Exploration was concentrated in the Rocky Mountain Foothills and failed to yield any discoveries. [4]
In 1928, E. W. Marland lost both Marland Oil Company and the Hudson's Bay Marland Oil Company to J. P. Morgan & Co. In 1929 both companies fell under the control of the Continental Oil Company (Conoco), which was also controlled by Morgan. Continental then reformed HBMOC as the Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company. The new company was incorporated on 5 October 1929. Through a new agreement between Continental and Hudson's Bay, the HBC would retain the option to purchase a 25 percent share in the company.
Between 1929 and 1933, the new company spent $1.9 million on exploration and failed to make any discoveries. In 1934 its Keho No. 1 well came up dry after 31 months of drilling. That same year, HBOG signed a ten-year agreement with Imperial Oil that allowed the latter to drill on Hudson's Bay land. In 1939 Imperial jointly drilled nine wells with HBOG in Turner Valley, and by 1947 HBOG's share of the production came to around 10 million barrels. After the Leduc No. 1 discovery in 1947, Conoco revived its activity with HBOG and began actively exploring again in Canada. The massive land holdings of the Hudson's Bay meant that whenever there was a major oil discovery, the HBC likely owned nearby land that could be explored. In 1952 the Hudson's Bay Company finally exercised its right to purchase a 25 percent share in HBOG. [5] It was not until 1956 that HBOG earned its first profit. The company remained private until 1957, when Conoco made a public offering of 9.3 percent of its shares for $19.2 million. [6]
HBOG soon established itself as one of Canada's major oil and gas companies. In the mid-1950s it became one of the guarantors of Trans-Canada Pipe Line. [7] In conjunction with Amoco Canada it produced oil in the Pembina field. HBOG's largest discovery came in 1962 when it struck gas at Kaybob South. Kaybob became Canada's largest gas field with reserves of 2.3 trillion cubic feet of sour gas. It also held gas interests at Zama Lake, Brazeau, and Sundre. By 1980s HBOG was the country's eighth largest oil producer, fifth largest gas producer, and seventh largest combined. In 1955 HBOG opened Canada's third oil pipeline, the Rangeland Pipeline, which connected with Conoco's Glacier Pipeline in Montana. During the 1970s HBOG explored for petroleum in Australia, Indonesia, and the North Sea.
In 1955 the company opened its new office building, the Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Building, in Calgary at 326 7 Avenue SW. The ten-storey tower was designed by Stevenson and Dewar. In 1976 it moved its offices to the ninth floor of the new Scotia Centre at 700 2 Street SW. The company's logo, a stylised H in the shape of an oil drop, was created in 1967 by graphic designer Chris Yaneff (1928–2004).
The hostile takeover of Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas by Dome Petroleum occurred in the context of the new National Energy Program (NEP) that the Liberal federal government introduced in October 1980. Among others, the program's purpose was the "Canadianization of the oil industry and the achievement of energy self-sufficiency through conservation, more determined development of Canada's frontiers, and the building of new tar sands plants." [8] Additionally, the NEP "linked government exploration incentives with Canadian company ownership." [9] To work around the NEP, Dome Petroleum, which at the time was 65 percent foreign owned, created a new Canadian subsidiary called Dome Canada Limited to carry out its exploration work. This company launched officially on 30 January 1981 with assets of $842 million. Almost immediately, Dome president William E. Richards (1926–2008) set out to acquire HBOG, hoping to increase Dome Canada's cash flow. At the time, HBOG's majority shareholder was Conoco, who held a 52.9 percent stake. Dome conceived a plan whereby it would purchase a large stake in Conoco, threatening its independence, and then exchange this stake for Conoco's holdings in HBOG. On 5 May 1981, Dome made a public offer of $65 per share for 13 to 20 percent stake in Conoco (which was then trading at $50), and ended up purchasing 22 million shares for US $1.43 billion, or a 20 percent stake. On Sunday, 31 May at Conoco's head office in Stamford, Connecticut, Dome negotiated a deal for the return of its 20 percent stake of Conoco. Per the deal, Dome would give back all 22 million shares plus $245 million in cash in return for the 52.9 percent holdings of HBOG. [10]
In the fall of 1981, Dome set out to acquire the remaining holdings of Dome. The largest remaining block belonged to the Hudson's Bay Company, who held 10.1 percent. On 3 November at the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Dome came to an agreement with Hudson's Bay to acquire the outstanding shares for $2.3 billion, bringing the total cost of the takeover to around $4 billion. The deal was approved by shareholders in January 1982 and HBOG was amalgamated with Dome officially on 10 March.
Dome's takeover of HBOG contributed to its spiraling debt, which reach $8 billion by the end of 1982. Other factors that contributed to its financial difficulties were the closure of a tax loophole vital to the HBOG takeover, rising interest rates, and an influx of foreign oil into eastern Canada. [11] Dome's debt spawned one of Canada's largest financial crises, as it had also received substantial loans from four of Canada's big five banks.
Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas's final president, Richard F. Haskayne (1934–), reflected later on the takeover:
In September 1988, Amoco Canada purchased Dome Petroleum Limited for $5.5 billion, thus gaining control of the former HBOG assets. HBOG was finally deregistered on 1 May 1989. BP Canada purchased Amoco Canada in 1998.
Leonard F. McCollum, 1947–1953
R. Clifford Brown, 1953–1959
Gerald T. Pearson, 1959–1962
Wayne E. Glenn, 1962–1965
Linden J. Richards, 1965–1970
D. Carlton Jones, 1970–1977
Stanley G. Olson, 1977–1980
Richard F. Haskayne, 1980–1982
Leonard F. McCollum, 1953–1961
Charles A. Perlitz Jr, 1961–1964
Ira H. Cram, 1964–1966
Andrew W. Tarkington, 1966–1972
Wayne E. Glenn, 1972–1977
D. Carlton Jones, 1977
John E. Kircher, 1977–1980
Gerald J. Maier, 1980–1982
The Hudson's Bay Company is an American and Canadian-based retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, before evolving into a major fashion retailer, operating retail stores across both the United States and Canada. The company's namesake business division is Hudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay.
ConocoPhillips Company is an American multinational corporation engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production. It is based in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas.
BP Canada was a Canadian petroleum company and subsidiary of British Petroleum that existed between 1955 and 1992. The name refers to a group of companies that engaged in various segments of the petroleum industry lifecycle. BP entered the Canadian market in October 1953, when it purchased a 23 percent stake in the Triad Oil Company. In 1955, BP formed a Canadian subsidiary, based in Montreal, called BP Canada Limited. The company began acquiring retail stations in Ontario and Quebec and in 1957 started construction on a refinery in Montreal. By the end of the 1950s BP Canada was a fully-integrated operation. In 1964, it acquired from Cities Service the Oakville Refinery, and then expanded its operations significantly in 1971 when it acquired Supertest Petroleum.
Marathon Oil Corporation is an American petroleum company that has existed since 1887. Marathon was founded in Lima, Ohio as the Ohio Oil Company. In 1899, the company was acquired by the Standard Oil Company. After the antitrust case against Jersey Standard in 1911 and subsequent breakup of its holdings, Ohio Oil once again became an independent company. In 1930, Ohio Oil acquired the Transcontinental Oil Company, which operated the "Marathon" brand of retail gasoline stations. Ohio Oil continued to use the Marathon brand, and in 1962, Ohio changed its name to the Marathon Oil Company.
The Phillips 66 Company is an American multinational energy company headquartered in Westchase, Houston, Texas. Its name, dating back to 1927 as a trademark of the Phillips Petroleum Company, helped ground the newly reconfigured Phillips 66. The company today was formed ten years after Phillips merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillips. The merged company spun off its refining, chemical, and retail assets into a new company bearing the Phillips name. It began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on May 1, 2012, under the ticker PSX.
Dome Petroleum Limited was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1950 and 1988. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Dome Mines and was built by Jack Gallagher, who remained with the company until 1983. In 1988 Dome was purchased by Amoco.
Richard Francis "Dick" Haskayne is a Canadian retired accountant and oilman whose career spanned from 1956 to 2005. Haskayne served as senior official of several major Canadian petroleum companies including Hudson's Bay Oil and Gas Company, Home Oil Company, Interprovincial Pipeline Company, Nova Corporation, and TransCanada Pipelines. He is also known for his association with the University of Calgary, whose management faculty was renamed the Haskayne School of Business in 2002.
Conoco, formerly known as Continental Oil, is an American petroleum brand that is operating under the ownership of the Phillips 66 Company since 2012 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas. One of the several successors of Standard Oil, Conoco was a subsidiary of that company from 1884 until its 1911 divestiture when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to decouple the monopolized entity.
APA Corporation is the holding company for Apache Corporation, an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston. The company is ranked 431st on the Fortune 500.
Marland Oil Company was an American integrated petroleum company that existed from 1921 to 1929. The company was founded by Ernest Whitworth Marland (1874–1941) and was based in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
Canada's natural gas liquids industry dates back to the discovery of wet natural gas at Turner Valley, Alberta in 1914. The gas was less important than the natural gasoline - "skunk gas" it was called, because of its distinctive odour - that early producers extracted from it. That natural gas liquid (NGL) could be poured directly into an automobile's fuel tank.
Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated oil and natural gas company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Its offices are located at Brookfield Place, having completed a move from the neighbouring Bow in 2019.
China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC Group, is the third-largest national oil company in China, after CNPC and China Petrochemical Corporation. The CNOOC Group focuses on the exploitation, exploration and development of crude oil and natural gas in offshore China, along with its subsidiary COOEC.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited, or CNRL or Canadian Natural is a senior Canadian oil and natural gas company that operates primarily in the Western Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, with offshore operations in the United Kingdom sector of the North Sea, and offshore Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon. The company, which is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, has the largest undeveloped base in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It is the largest independent producer of natural gas in Western Canada and the largest producer of heavy crude oil in Canada.
Gulf Canada was a Canadian integrated petroleum company that existed between 1944 and 2001. Gulf Oil Corporation began operating in Canada in 1942, and two years later formed a Canadian subsidiary called the Canadian Gulf Oil Company. In 1956 Canadian Gulf Oil merged with the British American Oil Company and until 1969 operated under the British American name. In 1969, British American amalgamated with its subsidiaries into a new company called Gulf Oil Canada Limited.
William Walter "Bill" Siebens was an American-Canadian oilman. He is best known as the founder and president of Siebens Oil and Gas Limited, a company that operated from 1965 until its sale in 1978.
The Alberta Energy Company Ltd. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed from 1973 to 2002. The AEC was created by the Government of Alberta under Premier Peter Lougheed as a mechanism for Albertans to invest in the Syncrude oil sands project. Besides its participation in Syncrude, the AEC also received the rights to produce gas in the Suffield Block. The company was established as a mixed enterprise and at its inception was half owned by the provincial Crown and half owned by the public. A restrictive charter, which prevented individual shareholders from acquiring more than one percent of the company and mandated directors be residents of Alberta, ensured control remained within the province. Until 1982, the company was barred from participation in conventional oil and gas exploration, but after that time was given the right to compete with private companies in that area. In 1983 the government began to decrease its equity, and in 1993 divested of its remaining shares.
Tourmaline Oil is a Canadian energy company engaged in the exploration, development, and extraction of crude oil and natural gas. It is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta in Canada. A major natural gas producer, it became the largest natural gas producer in Canada in 2021. It is also the first Canadian oil and gas exploration and development company to directly engage in the liquified natural gas business.
Following the 1911 Supreme Court ruling that found Standard Oil was an illegal monopoly, the company was broken up into 34 different entities, divided primarily by region and activity. Many of these companies later became part of the Seven Sisters, which dominated global petroleum production in the 20th century, and became a majority of today's largest investor-owned oil companies, with most tracing their roots back to Standard Oil. Some descendants of Standard Oil were also given exclusive rights to the Standard Oil name.
PanCanadian Petroleum Limited was a Canadian independent petroleum company that operated between 1971 and 2002. The company was created through the merger of Canadian Pacific Oil and Gas Limited and Central-Del Rio Oils Limited. PanCanadian inherited the freehold mineral rights included in land grants the Canadian Pacific Railway had received in the 1880s, and therefore possessed a massive land base to explore for oil and gas. Through its entire life, PanCanadian was owned approximately 87 percent by the CPR's holding company. In 2002, PanCanadian merged with the Alberta Energy Company to form EnCana, which at the time was the world's largest independent petroleum company.