On June 10, 1958 the CPA opened an office in Ottawa and became "one (of) the oldest, largest and most influential lobby groups in Canada." It provided the federal government with information pertaining to the oil industry while keeping the CPA informed about political trends, government regulations and statistics. By 1965 the CPA had a membership of more than 200 members representing roughly 97 percent of all oil and gas production in Canada. In 1981, two years after the first commercial discovery at Hibernia off the coast of Newfoundland, the CPA opened an office in St. John’s in cooperation with the Eastcoast Petroleum Operators’ Association.