The Pembina oil field is one of the largest and most prolific conventional oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

s in the province of Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.

The mature field is centered around Drayton Valley and is named for the Pembina River

Pembina River

Pembina River can refer to:*Pembina River , a river in southern Manitoba, Canada and northern North Dakota, United States*Pembina River , a river in central Alberta, Canada...

, which crosses the region from south-west to north-east.

It taps in the Cretaceous

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 deposits of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin

The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is a vast sedimentary basin underlying of Western Canada including southwestern Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan, Alberta, northeastern British Columbia and the southwest corner of the Northwest Territories. It consists of a massive wedge of sedimentary rock...

 for oil and gas production. The main hydrocarbon bearing formations is the Cardium Formation

Cardium Formation

The Cardium Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Upper Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from the Cockle shells, and was first described along the Bow River banks by James Hector in 1895.-Lithology:...

, with the Viking Formation

Viking Formation

The Viking Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.It takes the name from the town of Viking, Alberta, and was first described in the Viking-Kinsella oil field by Dowling in 1919.-Lithology:...

 and sandstone beds of the Fernie Formation

Fernie Formation

The Fernie Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Jurassic age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. In some interpretation it has Group status.It takes the name from the town of Fernie, British Columbia, and was first defined by Leach in 1914....

 such as the Rock Creek Member also being produced.

History

The first oil was discovered by Mobil Oil in February 1953, and it started a boom that saw the investment of $900 million in the area.