Steve McCaffrey

Although it was shortly lived, during the summer of 1981, Dome Petroleum was Canada's most valuable public company. CEO "Smiling" Jack Gallagher was an oil permabull who almost exclusively used debt to build up Dome over the years. In the 1970s, Jack grew Dome's assets each year by an average of more than 40%. He built what was, at its peak, Canada's third largest oil producer and second largest gas producer. Whereas other majors were engaging in downstream refining, Jack wanted supply growth for Dome. Part of this was to come from the Arctic Sea. Dome was the first company to drill an exploratory well in the extreme Arctic and were pioneers in exploring the Beaufort Sea. Truly historical wildcatting. Jack viewed Dome's Arctic campaign as so important that Dome acquired North America's older shipbuilder in the back half of 1981 to streamline their operation. Jack's Arctic dreams were expensive. Falling oil prices and other expensive acquisitions caused Dome's share price to collapse a year later in 1982. Dome stock would never recover. The company would go on to be taken over by Amoco Petroleum in 1988. ---------- Jack's run at Dome reminds us to dream big and swing for the fences. $DMP.TO