Oil Well no.1 - Also known as the 'Grand Old Lady'

Situated on top of Canada Hill, the Grand Old Lady is the first oil well in Malaysia. It represents the petroleum history of Miri which is almost a century old. This oil well is no longer production and it has been declared a protected historical site by the Sarawak Government. There is an observatory platform where visitors can have an excellent view of Miri City. Next to this oil well is the newly completed Petroleum Science Museum.

Miraculously, the oil well was spared from the bombings and other attacks of World War II.

History

The 'Grand Old Lady' of Miri had had a remarkable record over her 62 years of life. She had operated almost non-stop from that day in December 1910, when she had first brought into production, until she was closed in 1941 due to war action. In that time, she had produced 563,484 barrels and was still producing 10 barrles per day. In three and a half years of occupation, Well No.1 wored for only 12 months during which she produced 4,371 barrels. At close, she was still managing to produce 3 barrels of oil a day and when finally stopped, had produced over 650,000 barrels of oil.

In the last months of operation, one of the wells still creaking slowly up and down was that same well that began the saga of Miri Well Number One.

On Monday, October 1st, 1973, in a simple ceremony on top of Canada Hill, Miri, Sarawak Shell Berhad handed Malaysia's first oil well over to the State Government, to be henceforth an official monument. This became the historic Well Number One. It had then been in existence for 63 years.

Nearly a Tragic Ending
As if in protest against her enforced retirement, Miri No.1's derrick involved herself in a bush fire four months later. Fortunately this was extinguished in good time. She was to be restored to her old self again and on 1st October, 1973, after one year in retirement, she was handed over to the Sarawak Government to be kept in perpetuity as a historical monument.

The Grand Old Lady today

Nowadays there is an observatary platform where visitors can have an excellent view of the city, and the Petroleum Science Museum has been built next to the site.

Click to enlarge the panorama.