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Offshore Atlantic Canada - Regional Overview

2008; Society of Petroleum Engineers; Volume: 60; Issue: 10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2118/1008-0050-jpt

1944-978X

Dennis Denney,

Canadian Policy and Governance

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper OTC 19273, "The Offshore Petroleum Industry in Atlantic Canada - A Regional Overview," by R.P. Barnes, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, prepared for the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 5-8 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. An overview is presented of current and planned offshore exploration, development, and production activity off the east coast of Canada. Petroleum-related research is taking place and is being applied to offshore development and production. Introduction Atlantic Canada is the eastern region of Canada that comprises four provinces: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Current activity offshore Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador, is shown in Fig. 1. Four offshore fields are in production, and agreements with governments are being finalized for development of a fifth field. The area is a high-cost, high-risk environment with challenges presented by harsh weather conditions, remote drilling locations, and limited infrastructure. Much of the region is relatively unexplored and considered frontier area. Research, development, and new technologies have been key in advancing the industry. The Newfoundland and Labrador offshore area has three fields in production: Hibernia, Terra Nova, and White Rose. Resource estimates on the Hibernia and White Rose fields have been revised as a result of positive drilling results in nearby satellite fields, and plans are under way to develop the additional resources. Offshore Nova Scotia was the site of Canada's first offshore oil field, Cohasset Panuke. Production began in 1992, and the field ceased production in 1999. There is one offshore natural-gas field in production offshore Nova Scotia—the Sable Offshore Energy Project. Development of a second gas field, Deep Panuke, was sanctioned in October 2007 and is expected to reach production in 2010. Only a small amount of offshore petroleum-exploration activity has taken place offshore Prince Edward Island, with no significant discoveries. Offshore Production Nova Scotia. The Sable Offshore Energy Project is 250 km from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and began production on 31 December 1999. The project delivered more than 500 MMcf/D of natural gas in the early years of production, decreasing to 375 MMcf/D in 2006. A compression platform was built in 2006–07 that returned production to 400 to 500 MMcf/D in 2007. Production is expected to continue at this level throughout 2008 and then begin to decline. Production is from five separate fields. The most recent public declaration of project reserves, January 2004, estimated the recoverable gas at 1.4 Tcf.