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.

Canada produces approximately 2.7 million barrels (430,000 m3) of crude oil a day, and 6.4 trillion cubic feet (180 km3) of natural gas per year.

In 2013, an IPSOS poll showed a majority (75%) of Canadians prioritize local crude before using imported oil from foreign sources, while just over one in ten (14%) ‘disagree’ (4% strongly/11% somewhat) and 11% have no opinion.

[7] However, GHG emissions per barrel of oil sands crude produced have dropped by 26% since 1990 as a result of new operating practices and technology.

Advocacy for Oil Sands CAPP's series of meetings in 2010 in eight cities in Canada and the United States, including Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal, Washington D.C., New York and Chicago, with CAPP representatives, oil sands CEOs and 160 key stakeholders, culminated in a report entitled Dialogues published on 14 April 2011.

In 2010 released a series of voluntary Guiding Principles for Hydraulic Fracturing for Canadian natural gas producers to adhere to.

CAPP supports and advocates for exports of Canadian crude oil via Canada's west coast via the Northern Gateway and the KinderMorgan TransMountain Expansion Project.

Nine winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, were signatories to a letter to pressure U.S. President Barack Obama to reject the $7-billion pipeline expansion project by the Canadian-based company TransCanada to build the Keystone XL.

The position of the Nobel Peace Prize winners, essentially, is that one rich nation selling increasingly heavy high-carbon oil to another sabotages any effort to reach a deal on global carbon controls, and that moves to expand this export (like Keystone XL or Northern Gateway) cause significant and direct risks to world peace, as climate victim countries become subject to chaotic weather, fighting over scarce water (especially in Southeast Asia and Africa), flooding and rising sea levels.

CAPP's lobbying efforts included favouring "made in Canada" approach and advocating for a carbon pricing program.

June 8, 2011, e-mail to senior government officials from the Energy Resources Conservation Board, the arm’s length regulator of the oil and gas industry in Alberta, to several meetings to produce a collaborative communications campaign on fracking strategy.

[16] stating that (Government of Alberta) agrees communication is a priority including a joint industry/GOA committee to develop similar language and terminology for discussion of shale gas issues and operations...

[17] Prior to the 2019 Canadian federal election CAPP registered as a political third party, which The Calgary Herald said was "breaking with tradition" "for the first time" to increase its advocacy efforts on behalf of the oil industry.

[18] Alberta Premier Jason Kenney had said during his election campaign that he would request that the energy industry "significantly increase its advocacy efforts.

Macmillan responded by affirming CAPP's support of UNDRIP, but maintaining that such legislation shouldn't be adopted during the pandemic because of the government's limited ability to hold consultations during this time.