The history of oil and gas development in British Columbia extends back nearly 125 years. Here is a brief chronology of events.

• 1890-1947, 60 wells drilled and recorded in British Columbia
• 1889, a railway company looking for coal drilled a hole at Haney (on the Fraser River near Pitt Meadows) and reported a violent gas blow at a depth of 60 feet
• 1906, the first officially recorded well was drilled—Steveston No. 1, in the Fraser River delta; it was abandoned at a depth of 1200 feet
• Over the next few years, other holes drilled in the province included:
  • 1908, Beaver Valley No. 1 in the Cariboo
  • 1909, Akamina No. 1, in the Flathead area in the southeast part of the province; drilled to a depth of 1256 feet
  • 1910, Muir Creek No. 1, in the Sooke area; abandoned at a depth of 1560 feet
  • 1913, Tian Bay No. 1, in Haida Gwaii; this well was drilled to a depth of 1606 feet and recorded a 5-foot flare during drilling
• 1920s, major sour gas deposits discovered in the province; the British Columbia government also drilled 5 or 6 test holes in the Peace River area, just west of the Townships
• 1930s, the British Columbia government placed all lands in the Peace River area under a drilling reserve
• 1939-1949, two farm gas wells were used for heating and cooking at Steveston on Lulu Island in the Fraser delta, producing gas from 17 feet
• 1949, on Christmas Eve spudding of (start of drilling for) the first successful gas well in British Columbia—Peace River Natural Gas No. 1
• 1952, elemental sulphur begins to be extracted from sour gas
• 1967, bitumen which is contained in oil sands, (one of the world’s largest known petroleum resources) is upgraded into light, low-sulphur synthetic
• 1971, the first ever LNG plant is established by FortisBC in Delta supplying LNG for truck-based exports to the United States, local fleets, Vancouver Island based transportation firms, and industries in remote communities throughout the province, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon
• 1991, advances in technology and discoveries of natural gas reserves such as the Montney Shale, are the catalyst for more than a decade of booming natural gas development and production in northeast British Columbia
• 2010, the National Energy Board receives applications to build several LNG plants along the west coast of British Columbia
• 2012, the British Columbia government releases British Columbia’s Natural Gas Strategy, supporting the development of an LNG sector.
• 2018, the British Columbia government adopts stricter greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requirements as part of the CleanBC plan which aims to reduce the level of emissions in 2007 by 80% by the year 2050.

Learning Activity 4: Explore the History of Oil and Gas in Canada and British Columbia

Instructions

1. Watch videos 6, 7, 8 and 9, and review website 1, then answer the following questions.

LNG Industry Community

The LNG industry is not just massive corporations and big business. It is also a connected community of rights-holders and stakeholders—all individuals with unique responsibilities, concerns, and goals. Made of jobs in Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream sectors, with locations across B.C., Canada, and the world; it is an industry that is becoming increasingly invested not only the health and well-being of the natural environment, but of the people and communities it affects.

Organizations and associations across B.C. and Alberta, such as the Oil Sands Community Alliance (OSCA) and the Petroleum Service Association of Canada (PSAC) are working to gain a better understanding of the short and long-term social and economic effects that the LNG industry has on communities, and including them in their thinking about sustainability.