What’s new in exploration

The oil and gas industry is invited to explore Jurassic and Cretaceous deepwater reservoirs off Nova Scotia, in what the government hopes will be a succession of successful wildcats. Only one well, Shelburne G-29, has thus far tested the Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous deepwater succession on the western Scotian margin. Although more than 120 wells have been drilled in the Scotian basin, they are concentrated in the productive Sable sub-basin, focused on rollover anticline plays. Several of the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) shallow-water fields-—Alma and North Triumph—are considered shelf margin delta complexes at the top of the Lower Cretaceous, with high in-place gas reserves (>500 Bcf) in excellent quality reservoirs with high flow rates. Regional specialists suspect that a continuation of this shelf margin delta play may exist in the deeper water of the Scotian slope.