Oil and gas discovered in Dubai
1982 - His Highness Shaikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, visited Margham 1, Dubai’s latest discovery of onshore oil and gas. He was accompanied by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Minister of Finance and Industry, and Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Minister of Defence. Shaikh Rashid was briefed about the procedure of work on the well, which will be completed in three weeks. The discovery site is located in the north of Margham, some 45km from the city of Dubai. The Government of Dubai said initial tests had confirmed production rates from the well of 34.4 million cubic feet of gas and 2,330 barrels of oil of 50 degrees API gravity per day.
May 8
1541 - Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
1794 - Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, is executed on the guillotine during France’s Reign of Terror.
1886 - The first Coca-Cola is sold at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, US.
1897 - Greece asks major powers to intervene in its war with Turkey.
1902 - Mount Pelee on the French West Indian island of Martinique erupts, wiping out city of St Pierre and killing all but two of its 30,000 residents.
1921 - Sweden abolishes capital punishment.
1980 - World Health Organisation announces that smallpox has been eradicated.
1990 - Estonia declares itself a republic and drops the words ‘Soviet Socialist’ from its name.
1991 - CIA director William H. Webster resigns.
1994 - Erling Kagge becomes the first person to complete the Three Poles Challenge.
1995 - Sharjah issues a decree to establish the biggest airport free zone facility.
1999 - Nato mistakenly bombs Chinese embassy in Belgrade for a Yugoslav government office.
2000 - British troops arrive in Freetown to evacuate foreign nationals from troubled Sierra Leone.
2005 - McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen wins the Spanish Grand Prix championship.
2006 - South African court acquits former deputy president Jacob Zuma of rape charge.
2009 - The Dubai Mall is officially opened.
2010 - Pakistan successfully test-fires two ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
2016 - A prominent Pakistani rights and anti-militant activist, Khurram Zaki, is shot dead.
