1000 B.C. |
China: Chinese drill for natural gas and transport by bamboo
pipeline.
|
1500 A.D. |
Trinidad: sea captains use pitch to caulk ships.
|
1820 |
Cape Breton Island: school children at Lake Ainslie amused
themselves by driving stakes into the ground, withdrawing them,
then firing the escaping gas.
|
1840 |
Nova Scotia: Dr. Abraham Gesner experiments with production of
lamp fuel from coal and asphalt.
|
1852 |
Ontario: attempts made to use tar beds commercially to seal ships
and build roads.
|
1854 |
New York: Gesner produces kerosene commercially from petroleum.
|
1854 |
Ontario: world's first oil company incorporated.
|
1858 |
Ontario: James Miller Williams first in North America to drill
deliberately and successfully for oil to a depth of 15 m.
|
1859 |
United States: Edwin Drake finds oil in Pennsylvania at about 21 m.
|
1859 |
New Brunswick: oil explorationist discovered natural gas seep near
Moncton; this was the Dover field.
|
1860 |
Ontario: Williams's company becomes Canadian Oil Company with
five wells producing a total of about 20 barrels per day.
|
1860 |
United States: oil production over 250,000 barrels/year (over 700
barrels/day).
|
1863 |
Ontario: thirty refineries operating in the province.
|
1864 |
Ontario: price of oil at $4 a barrel.
|
1865 |
Ontario: demand for oil increases - oil sells at $11 per barrel.
|
1867 |
Ontario: more oil produced than is needed - oil sells at $0.50 a barrel.
|
1870 |
Alberta: presence of oil and natural gas reported southwest of
Calgary.
|
1873 |
Ontario: export of Canadian oil to United States stops because of
Pennsylvania oil production.
|
1880 |
Ontario: Imperial Oil Ltd. founded and 100% Canadian owned.
|
1883 |
Alberta: natural gas found near Medicine Hat.
|
1889 |
Ontario: first producing natural gas well in Essex County.
|
1893 |
Canada: oil used to produce naphtha, lubricating oils, waxes, fuel oils,
asphalt, and kerosene
|
1894 |
Ontario: production of Ontario oil peaks at less than 900,000 barrels
a year.
|
1898 |
Canada: first automobile sold; gasoline production from oil begins.
|
1898 |
Canada: eastern Canada imports oil from other countries to meet
domestic demand.
|
1900 |
Alberta: Medicine Hat using natural gas for perpetual street lighting
(gas burning night and day to save money).
|
1902 |
Alberta: western Canada's first producing oil well at Waterton.
|
1909 |
New Brunswick: first successful natural gas well at Stoney Creek
near Moncton.
|
1909 |
Alberta: Canadian Pacific Railway commercially develops natural gas
near Medicine Hat.
|
1909 |
Alberta: Calgary uses natural gas for street lighting and brewery.
|
1912 |
New Brunswick: natural gas piped from Stoney Creek to Moncton.
|
1914 |
Alberta: discovery of natural gas and oil condensate at Turner Valley
(at a depth of 1200 m); more than 500 oil companies formed (most go
bankrupt).
|
1920 |
Northwest Territories: oil found at Norman Wells but too far to
transport economically.
|
1936 |
Alberta: deeper well (2500 m) at Turner Valley discovers crude oil.
|
1940 |
World: World War II increases demand for oil; more exploration in
Canada and United States.
|
1946 |
Canada: Canada produces 20,000 barrels of oil a day and imports
200,000 barrels a day (oil used in Canada is 90% imported).
|
1947 |
Alberta: major oil find in Leduc.
|
1951 |
British Columbia: natural gas discovered at Fort St. John.
|
1965 |
Alberta: major oil discovery at Rainbow Lake.
|
1966 |
First exploration wells drilled in offshore eastern Canada: Tors Cove
D-52 and Grand Falls H-09.
|
1967 |
British Columbia: the first of a series of exploratory offshore wells is
drilled on the West Coast; no commercial quantities of oil and gas
were found.
|
1967 |
Alberta: first integrated oil sands plant (Suncor Inc. at Ft. McMurray)
ready for commercial production.
|
1967 |
The first well drilled on Sable Island; encountered shows of oil and
natural gas.
|
1969 |
Manitoba: first offshore well drilled in Hudson Bay; later abandoned
as dry.
|
1971 |
First well drilled on the Labrador Shelf.
|
1971 |
Significant oil and natural gas discovery in Sable Island E-48.
|
1973 |
First Middle East oil crisis; OPEC assumes unilateral control over
pricing of its oil, quadrupling the price from October 1973 to January
1974 (from $2.80 (U.S.)/bbl to $10.84 (U.S.)/bbl.
|
1978 |
Alberta: operation begins at the Syncrude Canada Ltd. synthetic
crude oil plant at Ft. McMurray.
|
1979 |
Newfoundland: Hibernia, Canada's largest offshore oil field is
discovered off the East Coast.
|
1979 |
Nova Scotia: significant natural gas field, Venture, discovered near
Sable Island, 200 km off the coast of Nova Scotia.
|
1980 |
Canada: introduction of the National Energy Program; federal
government policy designed to increase Canadian self-sufficiency,
increase Canadian ownership and control of the industry.
|
1982 |
The drilling rig Ocean Ranger sank during a severe winter storm on
February 15th. There were no survivors.
|
1985 |
February 11, the Government of Canada and the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador signed an agreement on the
management and revenue sharing of offshore oil and natural gas; it is
called the Atlantic Accord.
|
1985 |
Northwest Territories: completion of the 868 km Norman Wells
Pipeline; major step in bringing vast northern resources to market.
|
1985 |
Northwest Territories: first oil shipment from the Arctic.
|
1986 |
World oil prices fall from $34 (U.S.)/bbl in 1982 to $10 (U.S.)/bbl in
March, 1986; the price of natural gas was deregulated by the Federal
Government in November, 1986.
|
1986 |
Hibernia agreement signed by Chevron, Gulf, Mobil and Petro-
Canada.
|
1986 |
August 26, the Government of Canada and the government of Nova
Scotia sign the Canada-Nova Scotia Accord; this covers the
management and revenue sharing of oil and natural gas, offshore
Nova Scotia.
|
1990 |
Appointment of chairperson and members to the Canada-Nova Scotia
Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB).
|
1990 |
October. Began construction of the Bull Arm, Trinity Bay, Nfld.
fabrication site for the Hibernia gravity base structure (GBS) and assembly of the
topside facilities.
|
1992 |
November. Work began on construction of the Hibernia GBS.
|
1992 |
LASMO Nova Scotia and Nova Scotia Resources given approval to
proceed with oil production from the Cohasset-Panuke project. Production
officially began June 5th from the Panuke Field and continued through December
18th. During this first season 3.6 million barrels of oil were produced .
|
1992 |
Stoney Creek field in New Brunswick ceases production.
|
1993 |
New Hibernia agreement signed by the Federal Government,
Chevron, Mobil, Murphy and Petro-Canada.
|
1993 |
Number of wells drilled as of December, 1992.
New Brunswick: onshore 105 ;
offshore 2
Prince Edward Island:onshore 7 ;
offshore 6
Nova Scotia: onshore 99 ;
offshore 131
Newfoundland: onshore 60 ;
offshore 140
|
1995 |
Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) and Maritimes & Northeast
Pipeline Project (M&NP) formed. Total project costs estimated at $3 billion.
|
1995 |
Hunt Oil and PanCanadian discover oil at Port au Port #2, western
Newfoundland.
|
1996 |
January 1. PanCanadian Petroleum Limited Acquire all of LASMO
Nova Scotia's interest in the Cohasset- Panuke Project.
|
1996 |
Royalties agreement with SOEP and Nova scotia government.
|
1996 |
August. Petro-Canada submitted its development plan for the
Terra Nova Project on the Grand Banks.
|
1996 |
October 1, SOEP opens office in Halifax.
|
1997 |
SOEP awards contract for fabrication of Sable topsides
facility.
|
1997 |
Work starts on the #4.5 billion Terra Nova Project eastern Grand
Banks. Petro-Canada is the operator. Oil production is expected to start in 2000
at a average rate of 115,000 barrels a day.
|
1997 |
June. The 600,000 tonne Hibernia production platform was
successfully postioned on the site, over the Hibernia fields, after a 500 km
tow-out from the Bull Arm construction site in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.
|
1997 |
Corridor Resources and Dobrana Resources suspended their Green
Gables #2 well on P.E.I after encountering only small quantities of natural gas.
|
1997 |
November 17. Production from the $5.8 billion Hibernia project
at a initial rate of 20,000 barrels per day. Peak rate is estimated to be 180,000
b/d.
|
1997 |
December. All government and regulatory approvals granted to
SOEP.
|
1998 |
Gulf Canada is granted exploration rights to the French corridor
on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland south of the islands of St. Pierre and
Miquelon. Siesmic exploration program completed.
|
1998 |
Mobil Oil, Shell and Imperial Oil sign Scotian Shelf agreement.
|
1998 |
Corridor Resources shipped the drilling rig Ralex No. 4 to
Anticosti Is. to drill the first of a four well exploratory program. These will
be the first wells drilled on the island since the 1960's.
|