History of Oil in Lambton
Lambton ‘Oil Firsts’ in Canada and the World:
1834
World’s first recorded purchase of a property for its oil reserves.
1852
World’s first petroleum company established
1858
First commercial oil field in North America.
Canada’s first production of crude oil.
World’s first speculative oil boom.
First international sale and shipment of crude oil.
First commercial oil refinery in the British Empire.
World’s first integrated oil company established.
The first oil periodical in Canada established.
World’s first Oil Exchange opens for trading.
1860
Canada’s first drilled oil well.
First flowing well in Canada.
1862
Canada’s first oil gusher.
1863
Fairbank invention of the jerker line system to pump multiple wells.
1866
First well ‘torpedoed’ with nitro-glycerine in Canada
1880
Founding of Imperial Oil refineries at Petrolia and London.
Fairbank Oil becomes Imperial Oil’s largest supplier of crude.
1903
Fitzgerald Rig, Petrolia, becomes the world’s largest central oil pumping rig.
1914
First gas gusher drilled in Canada.
1955
Chemical Valley becomes the largest petrochemical complex in the Commonwealth
1955
Canada’s first secondary oil recovery program
1982
North America’s first natural gas trading hub.
1989
First attempt to mine oil in Canada.
1861-present
The world’s longest-producing oil family continues at Oil Springs, operating the world’s oldest continuously-producing oil field.