| Date |
Event |
|
|
| ~500BC |
- The Chinese use crude bamboo pipelines to harness natural gas from surface seeps to light temples and distill seawater.
|
| 1626 |
- French explorers witness indigenous people igniting surface seeps near Lake Erie.
|
| 1821 |
- William Hart digs first actual natural gas well near Fredonia, New York. The well was dug 27 feet into a creek to harvest gas seeping to the surface. The gas was piped through hollow logs to Fredonia to fuel street lamps.
|
| 1859 |
- “Colonel” Edwin Drake completes the first oil well drilled in North America. Natural gas from the well is piped five and one half miles to Titusville Pennsylvania.
- Natural gas is discovered in New Brunswick.
|
| 1866 |
- Natural gas is found in southwestern Ontario.
|
| 1883 |
- A Canadian Pacific Railway crew discovers natural gas near Medicine Hat while drilling for water.
|
| 1885 |
- Robert Bunsen invents the Bunsen burner, the first device to mix and burn natural gas and air in the proper proportions for safe, controlled heating and cooking.
|
| 1889 |
- Eugene Coste begins drilling natural gas wells in Essex County, Ontario.
|
| 1890 |
- Coste drills a successful natural gas well near Niagara Falls, Ontario and ships natural gas to Buffalo, New York.
- The Village of Medicine Hat begins drilling natural gas wells to supply fuel for cooking, heating and lighting.
|
| 1895 |
- Coste exports Essex County natural gas to Detroit, Michigan
|
| 1901 |
- The first commercial gas field is discovered in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
- The Ontario government bans the export of natural gas.
|
| 1904 |
- Coste moves to Western Canada to explore for and develop natural gas fields in southern Alberta. Natural gas is discovered at Cessford, Alberta and Suffield, Alberta
|
| 1909 |
- Coste makes a significant natural gas discovery at Bow Island, Alberta.
|
| 1912 |
- Coste builds a 270-kilometre pipeline from Bow Island to Calgary, Alberta and replaces coal gas with natural gas.
|
| 1923 |
- The City of Edmonton switches to natural gas sourced from a field near Viking, Alberta.
|
| 1950s |
- Natural gas is discovered in Alberta at Westerose South (1954), Elmworth (1955), Crossfield (1956), Brazeau River and Waterton (1959) and in British Columbia at Clarke Lake (1959).
|
| 1956 |
- TransCanada completes gas pipeline from Alberta to Ontario and Quebec.
|
| 1960s |
- Natural gas is discovered in Alberta at Kaybob South (1961), Edson (1962) and in British Columbia at Yoyo (1962) and Sierra (1965). Shell discovers gas off Sable Island, Nova Scotia in 1967.
|
| 1970s |
- Imperial Oil discovers Taglu gas field in McKenzie Delta (1971). Other discoveries are made at Parsons Lake North in the Mackenzie Delta/Beaufort Sea area of Canada’s Northwest Territories and at Thebaud, offshore Nova Scotia (1972), at Cranburg, Alberta (1974) and at Venture, offshore Nova Scotia (1979).
|
| 1972 |
- Natural gas is discovered at Parsons Lake North in the Mackenzie Delta/Beaufort Sea area of Canada’s Northwest Territories, and at Thebaud, offshore Nova Scotia.
|
| 1980 |
- The National Energy Program is announced in Canada.
|
| 1980s |
- Natural gas is discovered at Issungnak in the Mackenzie Delta/Beaufort Sea area of Canada’s Northwest Territories (1980), and in Alberta at Hamburg, Slave Point (1983) and at Caroline (1986).
|
| 1985 |
- The federal government and producing provinces sign the The Western Accord, committing to deregulation in the natural gas industry.
|
| 1986 |
- On November 1, deregulation of natural gas pricing and marketing takes effect.
|
| 1990s |
- Natural gas is discovered at Sable Island, Nova Scotia (1995) and at Fort Liard, Northwest Territories (1997).
|
| 2000 and on |
- Natural gas is discovered in British Columbia at Ladyfern (2000) and at Greater Sierra and Monkman (2002).
|
