TITLES DIVISION 

SUBJECT:  NORTH AMERICAN DATUM 83 (NAD83) - PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS GRID

In 1993, British Columbia officially adopted the North American Datum 83 (NAD83) as the survey datum standard.  The Petroleum and Natural Gas Grid (the Grid) was previously referenced to the earlier survey datum of North American Datum 27 (NAD27).  In 1993, the existing NAD27 Grid reference coordinates (latitudes and longitudes) were restated in NAD83 coordinates and a set of six figure NAD83 Universal Transverse Mercator map projection coordinates were established for each northeast unit corner in the Grid. This process insured that no physical relocation of tenure boundaries occurred as a result of the conversion.

The Petroleum and Natural Gas Grid Regulation, can be viewed at, http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/reg/P/PetNatGas/536_2004.htm

The 1993 Grid conversion was based on a NAD27 to NAD83 national transformation algorithm and software version 1.1 (NTv1.1) which was the protocol available in 1993.  Although the Province recognizes that a further refinement of the coordinate values could be obtained by converting to NTv2, the difference in coordinate values between v1.1 and v2 is relatively small (an average of sub-metre).  Accordingly, the Province of BC has chosen not to redefine the PNG Grid to NTv2 as doing so would impact the position of the thousands of tenure boundaries and spacing areas based on the existing grid.

The custodian of the Grid and its associated metadata is the Surveyor General, of the Land Title and Survey Authority of BC. The Integrated Land Management Bureau (Integrated Registry Branch) is the data steward of the Grid and provides access through the Land and Resource Data Warehouse (LRDW). 

Based on the Regulation, a spatial layer for the province has been created. This layer is comprised of:

This spatial layer is available for download from the LRDW in different formats, using the web link: http://lrdw.ca (Launch Download Data).  The Grid can be clipped to an area of interest and exported to ESRI Shape (.shp) or ESRI E00 formats in NAD83 BC Albers, UTM, or Long/Lat co-ordinates.  Please note the Grid is reviewed periodically to ensure the LRDW version is topologically correct and reflects current legislation.  Metadata descriptions are also updated at the same time to maintain consistency with the spatial data they are describing.

For more information, please contact:
Colin Magee, Director
Oil and Gas Titles Branch
Titles Division
PO Box 9326 STN PROV GOVT
6^th Floor, 1810 Blanshard Street
Victoria BC  V8W 9N3
Telephone:  250-952-0335
Facsimile:  250-952-0331
Email: Colin.Magee@gov.bc.ca