| Date |
Event |
|
|
| 1715 |
- James Knight, Factor of Fort York, writes in a Hudson Bay Journal of a “gum or pitch that flows out of the banks of a river” (the Athabasca); first report by a European of the oilsands deposits in Western Canada.
|
| 1790s |
- Explorer Alexander Mackenzie reports first hand of “bituminous pools” along the Athabasca River.
|
| 1846 to 1853 |
- Abraham Gesner of Halifax develops a fractional distillation process to produce kerosene from coal for use as lamp oil.
|
| 1850 |
- Geological Survey of Canada geologist Sterry Hunt reports oil pools in swampy areas in Enniskillen Township, Lambton County, Ontario.
|
| 1851 |
- Charles Tripp founds the first registered oil company in North America, the International Mining and Manufacturing Company, to recover the oil from pits dug in Enniskillen Township, and refine it using fractional distillation.
- Tripp exhibits asphalt from his plant at the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
|
| 1855 |
- Tripp sells the oil company to James Williams
|
| 1858 |
- Williams digs a 15-metre well to improve the flow rate
|
| 1859 |
- First oil well to be drilled is completed in Pennsylvania by “Colonel” Edwin Drake.
- James Williams also drills successful well in Enniskillen Township.
|
| 1862 |
- John Henry Fairbank digs successful oil well on land purchased from James Williams. In the same year, Fairbank invents the jerker line system for pumping crude oil.
|
| 1867 |
- George Dawson reports oil seeps in Waterton area, Alberta.
|
| 1870s |
- Through the 1860s and 1870s, almost 20 small refineries are set up in southern Ontario, chiefly to manufacture kerosene. Other products include paraffin, grease and lubricating oil. Gasoline, naphtha and benzene are regarded as by-products and are discarded. The industry goes into a decline in the 1880s as natural gas and electricity become the preferred sources of energy for lighting.
|
| 1880s |
- Imperial Oil Company Limited is born through the amalgamation of 16 Ontario refining companies.
- In 1889, Imperial Oil consolidates its refining operations in Sarnia, Ontario.
|
| 1892 |
- The diesel engine is developed by Rudolph Diesel.
|
| 1898 |
- Imperial Oil is acquired by U.S. oil conglomerate Standard Oil.
|
| 1905 |
- Automobiles powered by gasoline engines begin to gain wide popularity, providing a market for a byproduct of refining that previously had often just been discarded.
|
| 1914 |
- The Dingman #1 well sparks the first oil boom in Turner Valley in southern Alberta, moving the Canadian oil industry west.
|
| 1914 to 1918 |
- During the First World War, the use of gasoline-powered cars, trucks, tanks and motorcycles as well as ships fueled by bunker oil increases the demand for refined products not just on the war front but also domestically.
|
| 1920 |
- Imperial Oil discovers oil at Norman Wells, Northwest Territories.
|
| 1924 |
- The Royalite #4 well sparks a second oil boom in Turner Valley, Alberta with flow rates of 21MMcf/d of natural gas and 600 bbls/d of white naphtha.
|
| 1947 |
- Imperial Oil makes the giant Leduc discovery near Edmonton, Alberta after drilling 133 unsuccessful wells. Leduc is the largest find of its time, and produced continuously until the 1990s. It made Western Canada the centre of the Canadian oil industry and prompted an exploration surge.
|
| 1951 |
- Oil is discovered at Daly, Manitoba.
- The Interprovincial Pipeline is built to transport oil from Edmonton to Superior, Wisconsin.
|
| 1953 |
- Oil is discovered at Midale, Saskatchewan and Pembina, Alberta.
|
| 1957 |
- Oil is discovered at Swan Hills, Alberta.
|
| 1965 |
- Oil is discovered at Rainbow Lake, Alberta.
|
| 1972 |
- The federal and BC governments impose a moratorium on West Coast drilling.
|
| 1973 |
- The Panuke-Cohasset field is discovered offshore Nova Scotia and produces from 1992 to 1999.
|
| 1974 |
- Panarctic makes Bent Horn oil discovery on Cameron Island. It is the only oil field to be commercially produced in the Canadian Arctic, with oil shipments from 1985 to the late 1990s.
|
| 1977 |
- Oil is discovered at West Pembina, Alberta.
|
| 1979 |
- The Hibernia field is discovered offshore Newfoundland.
In 1997, Hibernia goes into production. To July 2002, 33 producing oil wells, gas injection wells and water injection wells have been drilled from the Hibernia gravity based structure.
|
| 1981 |
- The Hebron-Ben Nevis field is discovered offshore Newfoundland.
|
| 1984 |
- The Terra Nova field is discovered offshore Newfoundland, with production beginning in 2002.
- Oil is discovered offshore Newfoundland at White Rose.
|
| 2002 |
- Production begins at Terra Nova.
|
