1859   First commercial oil well in the United States at Titusville, Pa., struck oil at 69 feet and could produce about 25 barrels a day.

1896/1897   First offshore oil production in California, from a wooden pier over 30 feet of water near Santa Barbara.

1931   Virginia’s first commercial hydrocarbon well struck natural gas in Early Grove field near Bristol in Scott County.

1947   First offshore production rig built out of sight of land, 12 miles off the coast of Louisiana, in water 18 feet deep.

1966   Exploratory drilling started in the
North Sea.

1969   Drillers lost control of well off
Santa Barbara, releasing 200,000 gallons of oil, creating a slick along 35 miles of coast.

1976   Competitive leasing of offshore acreage began.

1981/1982   Shell Oil Co. paid $6.18 million to lease drilling site off Virginia.

1982   Federal Minerals Management Service created to manage offshore oil and
gas production.

1982   Congress passed moratorium banning exploration and
leasing off parts of California.

1984   Moratorium extended to the North Atlantic and parts of
the eastern Gulf of Mexico.

July 1984   Drilling began on Shell Well 93-1
in 5,017 feet of water off Virginia.

Nov. 1984   Shell Well 93-1 was plugged and abandoned as a dry hole at 17,740 feet.

1989   Exxon Valdez tanker spills into Prince William Sound, Alaska.

1990   Presidential order prohibiting leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf except for certain parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.

1990   $296 million paid by oil companies for leases off
North Carolina. Court battles ensued; wells were never drilled
in the “Manteo Prospect.”

1998   Moratorium on leasing oil drilling sites extended until 2012.

2005   Thunder Horse, the largest floating oil platform in the world,
was dedicated in the Gulf of Mexico. It was designed to process 250,000 barrels of oil a day.

2005   Virginia Gov. Mark Warner vetoed an attempt to seek exemption from moratorium.

Jan. 2006   Minerals Management Service identified Virginia’s
offshore drilling boundaries.

July 2008   George W. Bush lifted
executive order prohibiting leasing on
the Outer Continental Shelf.

Sept. 2008   Congress let the drilling
moratorium expire.

Nov. 2008   Federal environmental review began for Virginia’s proposed offshore drilling area.

March 2010   President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling off Virginia's shorelines and considering it for a large chunk of the Atlantic seaboard.

Would I be able to see offshore platforms from the beach?
No. Everything would be too far away to see from the shore.

Then what would I see?
Offshore drilling requires onshore support facilities for maintenance, docking, helicopters, etc. Those would likely be located in Hampton Roads. To protect the Eastern Shore, the state has recommended that no industrial facilities be placed there. Pipelines could come onshore in Hampton Roads, but processing plants would not necessarily be located near the coast.

How much are we talking about?
Virginia’s offshore region could contain anywhere from $0 to $10 billion worth of natural gas, according to a study released by the state government in 2006. The federal Minerals Management Service estimates $340 million in net revenues from waters off Virginia; the actual figure depends on the amount of gas and oil discovered and the market price.

What will they find?
Natural gas is more likely than oil, based on geologic information gathered in the 1970s, the most recent available. The Minerals Management Service estimates that 130 million barrels of oil and 1.4 trillion cubic feet of gas could be off Virginia. 

Did you know?
The majority of oil in the ocean comes from natural seepage, according to the National Research Council. Only a small fraction comes from oil spills. The rest comes primarily from boats and runoff. After the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska in 1989, spilling 15 percent of its load into Prince William Sound, double hulls have been required for tankers.

Read more about it
President Barack Obama is allowing oil drilling 50 miles (80 kilometers) off Virginia's coast. At the same time, he is rejecting some new drilling sites that had been planned in Alaska. Obama's plan offers few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off U.S. shores. Hinted at for months, the plan modifies a ban that for more than 20 years has limited drilling along coastal areas other than the Gulf of Mexico. Full story