In 1883, a CPR crew accidentally discovered
natural gas near
Medicine Hat, Alberta. In 1912, CPR set up its Department of Natural Resources in
Calgary to manage its timber, oil, gas, and mineral rights as well as land sales and immigration and colonization activities. In 1958, CP created Canadian Pacific Oil and Gas Company (CPOG) to manage its oil, gas, and mineral rights. CPOG was merged with Central-Del Rio Oils to form PanCanadian Energy in 1971, to expand CP portfolio into energy exploration. PanCanadian was spun off by CP in 2002 and later merged with Alberta Energy Corporation to form EnCana (now
Ovintiv). Fording Coal, a coal mining company formed by CP, was also spun off in 2002 and operated as
Fording Canadian Coal Trust. On July 29, 2008, Teck Cominco Ltd. (now
Teck Resources) announced an agreement with Fording to purchase 100% of Fording's assets at a cost of $14.1 billion. ==Land==