Sunshine Mining Co. - Washington Specimen Stock Certificate

Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company. The Sunshine Mining Co. made Washington state’s first oil discovery in July 1957, at a location 1.4 miles south down the coast from Ocean City. The discovery was on a state lease, and was below mean high tide, which made it an offshore well. Additional wells were drilled in the area, but none produced any oil. The discovery well made 11,032 barrels of oil before it was plugged in 1959.

In 1964, the federal government leased tracts totaling 581,000 acres (2,400 km²) in offshore Oregon and Washington. Oil companies drilled six tests offshore Washington (three in state waters and three in federal waters) and seven tests in federal waters offshore Oregon. The OCS P-0130 well drilled offshore Oregon by Union Oil in 1966 was described as having "potential for commercial gas production", but none of the wells were completed as producers, and the federal leases expired in 1969.

Farther north, in Canadian waters, Shell Canada drilled 14 wells offshore from Vancouver Island from 1967-1969. None were successful. Canada has had a federal moratorium on offshore drilling on its west coast since 1972. Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_oil_and_gas_in_the_United_States