Massive oil discovery off N.L. ‘fantastic’ news Companies announce up to 600 million barrels at Bay du Nord field. BILL POWER BUSINESS REPORTER [email protected] Word of the Bay du Nord offshore oil discovery about 500 kilo¬metres northeast of St. John’s, N.L., sent a seismic-like jolt through the Atlantic Canadian energy sector Thursday. “This is obviously a fantastic development and not just for Newfoundland-Labrador, but for the entire Atlantic region," Phillip Knoll, president and chief execut¬ive officer of Corridor Re¬sources Inc. of Halifax, said in an interview. Corridor wants to drill an off¬shore exploration well at its Old Harry prospect in the Gulf of St. Lawrence between 2015 and 2016, Knoll said. Old Harry is one of the largest undrilled geological structures in Eastern Canada and the explora¬tion company is gambling the area will contain significant oil and natural gas reserves. The Bay du Nord find will gen¬erate additional exploration that will bring required infrastructure and services to the region, Knoll said. “A herd mentality prevails over the oil and gas industry. You can be sure executives in the industry are looking at each other this morning and suggesting Atlantic Canada is a place they want to be. “As we generate more activity, we create a sort of critical mass that makes it more feasible for different sectors of the industry to operate co-operatively and eco¬nomically in our region." Statoil Canada Ltd. and co-¬venturer Husky Energy Inc. capped a couple of previous an¬nouncements about the Flemish Pass Basin with Thursday’s con¬firmation of the discovery of 300 million to 600 million barrels of recoverable oil at Bay du Nord off the Newfoundland and Labrador coast . The exploration partners said this latest find, combined with the other two finds in the Flemish Pass Basin, establishes a resource that is commercially viable to take to production. It adds up to one of the most significant offshore oil discoveries in Atlantic Canada in decades. The exploration partners called Bay du Nord the 12th-largest oil discovery in the world in the past four years. Lee Shinkle, with Stantec Consulting Ltd. , with offices in St. John’s and Halifax, said the Bay du Nord find represents a new lease on life for an exploration industry in Atlantic Canada that was hurting for a big find. “This is a very big deal as far as we are concerned," Shinkle said. Back in the 1970s, we’d all get fired up over the smallest find, and here we have a brand new basin opening up." A major oil discovery was re¬quired in the Flemish Pass Basin to make recovery economically feasible, Shinkle said. All three related discoveries in the basin are in about 1,100 metres of water. “People watching this had their fingers crossed for months, and here we are. It’s magnificent. It’s a fantastic Atlantic Canadian story. This is really the capstone we’ve all been waiting for." Offshore exploration in Atlantic Canada is truly in its infancy, with perhaps about 400 exploratory holes drilled over the years, com¬pared with about 40,000 drilled to date in the Gulf of Mexico, he said. “Oil finds generate huge royal¬ties for provinces when they go into production. Provincial gov¬ernments then have more to spend and this, in turn, generates more economic activity and ser¬vices." Executives of at least two of the world’s biggest energy companies with interests in the Scotian Shelf of the coast of Nova Scotia were more than likely sitting up to take notice of the latest find in Atlantic Canada . BP Exploration Operating C o. Ltd. has embarked on a $1.08 billion exploration program on the Scotian Shelf, while Shell Canada Ltd. will sp end will spend about $31.8 million hunting for oil and gas in the area. Shell also secured two shallow ¬water parcels in the Sable sub-¬basin close to the Sable Offshore Energy Project and Encana Corp.’s Deep Panuke project. The Nova Scotia government spent about $15 million on a re¬port, called the Play Fairway Analysis, that outlines vast re¬serves of offshore oil and gas off the province’s coast. Tim Dodson, executive vice-¬president of Statoil Exploration Canada, said it is exciting that Statoil is opening a new offshore basin . “This brings us one step closer to becoming a producing operator in the area," he said in a news release.
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:30:57 +0000