Bluesky Formation, Sandstone formation in Alberta, Canada

The Bluesky Formation is a Lower Cretaceous stratigraphic unit of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, made of mudstones, conglomerates and sandstones that may be quartzose or carry chert grains. Many of its sandstones show no bedding, though some sections display low to moderate-angle large-scale cross-bedding. It reaches 46 metres (151 ft) in the Pouce Coupe area and thins to the north and west.

The Bluesky Formation was first described by Badgley in 1952 from Shell's Bluesky No. 1 well, and it takes its name from the hamlet of Bluesky. It is usually treated as the basal unit of the Fort St. John Group, though some early workers placed it in the Bullhead Group. It is equivalent to the Glauconitic Sandstone of the Mannville Group and to the Wabiskaw Member of the Clearwater Formation.

The name comes from the hamlet of Bluesky, and Badgley first described the unit in 1952 from Shell's Bluesky No. 1 well. In the Peace River area the Bluesky-Gething interval is the main target for oil sands development, and heavy oil is recovered through wells rather than surface mining. The Red Earth Highlands divide the deposit into northeast and southwest accumulations.

The Bluesky lies 600–700 m (2,000–2,300 ft) down in the Peace River area, so it is reached only by well, not by mining or on foot. Its reservoir is the clean estuarine sands of the formation itself, with the Gething as secondary production zone. The combined Bluesky-Gething is the main target for oil sands development around Peace River.

The Bluesky is equivalent to the Glauconitic Sandstone of the Mannville Group in central and southern Alberta, and to the Wabiskaw Member of the Clearwater Formation in eastern northern Alberta. In the Peace River area, bitumen is recovered through wells from reservoir sands about 600 to 700 m below the surface, not by mining.