University may be sitting on oil land

LETHBRIDGE, Alberta, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The University of Calgary in Canada's oil-rich province of Alberta has learned it has oil rights to 2 square miles of land surrounded by oil and gas wells.

Professor Robert Stewart of the university's geosciences department told the Globe and Mail it isn't clear how the mineral rights for the property in Lethbridge, near the U.S. border, came to be in the university's name but said the opportunity won't be wasted.

"It could be an interesting research project or it could be an enormous economic stimulus" for the university's scholarship fund, he told the newspaper.

He said there were already oil wells in the vicinity of the property as well as significant natural gas production.

Geology undergraduates will process seismic data already collected to make pictures of the subsurface as part of their studies and there are hopes students from other faculties such as business and engineering can become involved, the report said.