Alberta Foothills

Three of the near-surface data sets from Table 5-VIII are particularly convincing because the soil-gas measurements were made in basins that contained only one type of production. As shown by Fig. 5-20b, they are the dry-gas production of the Sacramento Basin (more than 450 sites), the gas-condensate production in the Alberta foothills (more than 650 sites), and the oil production of the Permian basin (more than 450 sites). Figures 5-20c, 5-20d and 5-20e show methane content (%C ), the methane ethane ratio (C1/C2), and the propane-.methane ratio (1000 x C3/C1) from the soil-gas populations over these three basins. These data clearly demonstrate that the chemical compositions of the soil gases from these three different areas form separate populations that appear to reflect the differences which exist in the subsurface reservoirs in these three basins. This correlation is particularly striking when compared with the data of Nikonov (1971), shown in Fig. 5-20a. 

Miller, B.E., 1972. A study of the authigenic minerals in the Blairmore Group, southern Alberta foothills. M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Geology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alta. 

Probably the largest natural gas proeessing straddle plant in North Ameriea is BP-Amoeo s Empress, Alberta faeility. Here, EPBC (ethane, propane, butanes, and eondensate) are extraeted as liquids from natural gas before the gas is delivered to the TransCanada and Foothills (Saskatehewan) pipelines (Figure 8-5). The term straddle plant refers to the faet that the plant straddles the natural gas pipeline and extraets liquid eomponents before passing the natural gas further along the pipeline. 

Loeated at the eastern terminus of the NOVA and Foothills (Alberta) pipeline systems and about one mile west of the Alberta/Saskatehewan border, the BP-Amoeo Empress NGL proeessing plant extraets liquids equivalent to approximately 2% of the (maximum value of) 5.2 Bef of natural gas that passes through the faeility every day. Most of the... 

T n Canada the stockpile of sulfur has grown to about 19 million tons in 1977, and supply presently exceeds demand by about 2-3 million tons per year (I). Sulfur is produced principally in Alberta as a by-product of the desulfurization of sour natural gas. The capacity of the plants is rated at 9 million long tons per year (2), and sulfur is being produced at an annual rate of about 6-7 million tons (Table I). It is predicted that this rate will be maintained for the next 5-8 years. Future production in Canada depends principally on the rate of development of the oil sands deposits in Alberta (3) and on whether new sources of sour gas are discovered the latter could result from success in the exploratory deepdrilling program in the Rocky Mountain foothills of Western Canada. Supplies of gas discovered so far in the Arctic are not sour although there are deposits of elemental sulfur in the Sverdrup basin (4). 

Samples of drill cuttings from the glacial drift and the Belly River Formation were analyzed by means of the X-ray powder camera method in an attempt to find laumontite. The results were negative. The only location in Alberta where laumontite has been found is in the Cretaceous Blairmore Group in the folded foothills in the southwestern corner of the province (MUler, 1972). What these observations indicate is that somewhat higher temperatures and pressures are required to form significant quantities of the zeolite laumontite than are avaUable in the study area. 

Beaches, barrier islands, and offshore bars are all sedimentary environments that deposit clean well-sorted sands of high porosity and permeability. Where these are enveloped in organic-rich marine sales, they may become stratigraphic traps (Fig. 8B). Notable examples occtrr in the Cretaceous basins of the Rocky Morrrrtain foothills from Alberta in the north to New Mexico in the south. 

Sour gas wells in Canada are generally found in the Foothills region of Alberta and British Columbia, with the highest hydrogen sulfide content located in Southern Alberta. Although quantities vary significantly from site to site, the average sulfur concentration was 5 tonnes per million cubic feet of natural gas. 

Brisco, D.J. 2001. Relationships between stand and site factors in naturally established fire-origin lodgepole pine stands in the Upper Foothills of Alberta. M.Sc. thesis. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C. 83 pp. 

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