Petro-Canada is a Canadian oil and gas firm headquartered in Calgary, Alberta.

Petro-Canada was founded as a Crown Corporation in 1975 by an act of parliament. Many of the original Petro-Canada stations were British Petroleum Canada (BP Canada), which disappeared from the retail scene in Canada. Canada's large oil reserves had long been under the control of American corporations who geared most of their production towards the American market, and sent their profits south. After the Oil shock of 1973 oil prices quadrupled, but little of the benefit was going to Canadians. The motion to create a publicly run oil company was introduced by the New Democratic Party in 1973, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's Liberals were then in a minority government and dependent upon the support of the NDP to stay in power. The idea also fit with Trudeau's economic nationalism.

The company was given $1.5 billion in start up money and easy access to new sources of capital. It was set up in Calgary, despite the hostility of that city's population and existing oil firms. Its first president was Liberal operative Maurice Strong. The government maintained closer controls over Petro-Canada than was usual for a Crown Corporation so they could use it as a policy tool. The Progressive Conservative Party under Albertan Joe Clark was a fierce opponent of the company and advocated breaking it up and selling it. The Tories were unable to proceed with these plans during their brief time in power in 1979-1980, however.

The company became very popular in Canada, a symbol of Canadian nationalism, reinforced by its prominent sponsorship of the 1988 Winter Olympics. It quickly grew to be one of the largest players in the traditional oil fields of the west as well as in the tar sands and the East coast offshore oil fields.

When the Liberals returned to power in 1980 energy policy was an important focus and the sweeping National Energy Program was created. This expanded Petro-Canada, but it was extremely unpopular in Alberta. Under Mulroney the government stopped using Petro-Canada as a policy tool and it began to compete fully, and successfully with the private sector companies.

In 1990, the government announced its intention to privatize Petro-Canada and the first shares were sold on the open market in July 1991, at $13 each. The government began to slowly privatize the company, selling its majority control, but keeping a 20% stake in the company. No other shareholder is allowed to own more than 10%, however. Also foreigners cannot control more than 25% of the company.

During the first year, the value of the shares gradually dropped to $8 as Petro-Canada suffered a huge loss of $603 million, primarily because of the devaluation of some assets. The newly private company significantly reduced the number of properties in which it had a direct interest. It reduced its annual operating costs by $300 million and it went from a staff of close to 11,000 to only about 5,000 employees. Many of these laid off employees went on to work and start up other oil companies in Alberta creating a new group of Canadian producers.

In his 2004 federal budget, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale pledged to sell the government's remaining stake in the company.

Today Petro-Canada is Canada's 24th largest company with important interests in such projects as Hibernia and its gas stations remain a presence in most Canadian cities. The company has expanded internationally and is involved in several foreign projects, especially in Algeria.

Its main gasoline additive is Tactrol .

Related topics

• Gas station
• Gasoline
• Petroleum
• List of automotive fuel brands
• OPEC
• List of oil-producing states
• Convenience store

External link

• Petro-Canada