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Who would have thought, 25 years ago when we signed the Atlantic Accord, that Atlantic Canada’s petroleum industry would have progressed as far as it has?

From our fog-shrouded shores have sprung three producing oil projects, one natural gas project in production with another slated to come on stream later this year, billions of barrels of oil produced, trillions of cubic feet of natural gas tapped, several refineries, thousands of people employed, inestimable amounts of infrastructure, billions and trillions more resources awaiting discovery – on and on it goes.

Yet, despite everything we’ve accomplished, there are still some naysayers out there who mock our progress. “We’re too small,” they say. “We’re nothing compared to the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.” We may not be their equal – yet, but we’re a young, underexplored region and they’re mature basins with declining reserves. I know which position I’d rather be in.

Not so long ago, a senior oil executive told me (off the record) that Atlantic Canadians aren’t as proud of their petroleum resource as they should be. “I don’t think you realize what you have,” he said candidly. “A small Saudi Arabia, that’s what’s out there.”

Given how far our closest fields are located from land, more than a thousand times further than the most clear-eyed eagle can see, I can understand why people might not appreciate the extent of the activity taking place offshore. Out of sight truly is out of mind. Thankfully, a very visible change is underway.

Our onshore service and supply sector is growing apace with its offshore counterpart, with manufacturing facilities and fabrication yards appearing across the region with increasing regularity. Our industrial parks are growing, our knowledge base is expanding, and the collective awareness of the opportunity which faces us now, at this momentous point in our history, is beyond what any of us might have envisioned in our wildest dreams back in 1985.

We are on the verge of becoming the next Aberdeen, a hairsbreadth from turning into another Stavanger. Or, as one prescient oil exec put it, we’re a small Saudi Arabia in the making. Guess it’s time to break out the Oakleys.