NOVA SCOTIA CANADA: THE NEXT PLAY
Nova Scotia, Canada’s Offshore Frontier
Increasing exploration is top priority
Positive, industry friendly change is the driving force in offshore Nova Scotia today.
As a clearly under-explored region in the world, offshore Nova Scotia is taking a new path to enhance our regional attractiveness. There’s a lot at stake - a potential in excess of 40 Tcf of natural gas and significant oil.
Since 1967, when Mobil drilled the first well offshore, Nova Scotia has witnessed the growth of a strong oil and gas community that offers excellent port facilities, skilled supply and service companies and a stable political and social climate located next to the northeastern United States.
At this stage, encouraging exploration is fundamental to building on offshore Nova Scotia’s current natural gas and oil successes including the Cohasset Project (COPAN), Sable Offshore Energy Project and our next project, Deep Panuke.
Nova Scotia’s promoters and its oil and gas regulator have taken a serious look at challenges facing our offshore and acted strategically, with one goal in mind: make it more attractive for companies to explore.
In working to that goal, Gaffney, Cline & Associates was hired to speak with potential new entrants and existing players in Nova Scotia’s offshore. Another study, by Wood Mackenzie, looked at methods to enhance regional competitiveness in order to attract additional oil and gas investment.
Industry executives talked about our challenging environmental conditions and about a geological framework that is slowly coming into focus. We listened to calls for an improved regulatory process. And we acted.
The key government organizations - Nova Scotia Department of Energy, Natural Resources Canada, and the federal-provincial regulatory board, the Canada/Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) - realize that we must learn from the past and change for the future, by lessening red tape, encouraging innovative ideas and offering new incentives.
We made the following areas our priorities:
- Increase geoscience knowledge
- Generate and showcase new policy initiatives
- Continue with significant regulatory reform, then
- Enhance global awareness of offshore Nova Scotia opportunities.
We hope this supplement will illustrate, explain and sell the opportunities available in Nova Scotia. It is a snapshot of today. There will be more tomorrow.
In December 2007, for the first time in our history, Nova Scotia will initiate a Call for Bids with a principal focus on encouraging early geoscience activity in areas with the demonstrated potential and access to infrastructure. To make it easier for companies, we will share data on these regions online.
The Nova Scotia government is also investing millions of dollars in new and focused R&D initiatives designed to generate activity in offshore Nova Scotia. This is the first of many R&D steps to be taken over the next several years.
We believe offshore Nova Scotia offers many positives. Our location, just northeast of the New England states, means more than 40 million people are just a two-hour flight away in cities including Boston, Toronto and New York.
While the North Atlantic can be a harsh environment, offshore Nova Scotia is ice free, with similar operating conditions to the North Sea. With water depths in the vicinity of the major discoveries of less than 100 metres, development is well within the limits of conventional-type technology.
Our shore-based infrastructure has ample rig, supply vessels, rig loading and unloading facilities.
While there have been some recent wildcat disappointments, these wells have confirmed that good quality reservoir rock exists in many wells, which, together with positive gas and oil shows are essential ingredients in proving that a working petroleum system exists, particularly in the deep water areas.
Our business case continues to expand. We welcome new explorers to consider the region as part of their future Energy Investment Portfolio. 
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