Industry Oil/Natural Gas Headquarters Regina Founded 1975 | Products Oil/Natural Gas Founder Allan Blakeney Successor Nexen | |
Type Crown Corporation (1974-1986)
Public Company (1986-1997) | ||
Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Corporation, also known as SaskOil, was a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Saskatchewan. Established in 1973, it was responsible for oil and natural gas exploration, extraction, and marketing in the province of Saskatchewan. In 1986, the government sold the majority of the company to the public. Its name was changed to Wascana Energy Inc and shares were made available on the public markets. In 1987 the last remaining government interest in the corporation was sold to Canadian Occidental Petroleum.
In 1997 Talisman Energy initiated a hostile takeover of Wascana Energy. However, this was countered by white knight Canadian Occidental, which responded with a higher bid that was supported by Wascana's board of directors.
Operations
In 1997, Wascana was one of the top three oil and gas producers in Canada, producing 115,000 barrels of oil equivalent in Northern Canada and 264,000 worldwide, with international interests in Venezuela and Algeria.