Revised Deep Panuke plan unveiled

New England natural gas consumers could have access to a new supply source in 2010 now that EnCana has filed revised plans for its Deep Panuke project offshore Nova Scotia.

That follows a June announcement by EnCana that it has reached an agreement with the Nova Scotia government on fiscal terms.

After more than three years of rethinking, the Canadian independent has unveiled a proposal to produce 300 million cubic feet per day from almost 1 trillion cubic feet of reserves, down from its previous goal of 400 million. New reserve numbers will be made public later this year.

It is not known at this stage how much the original budget of C$1.1 billion will be affected by several changes, including:

• Subsea wells and tiebacks instead of platform wells.

• Leasing a single jack-up rig for a mobile offshore production unit rather than construction of three fixed platforms which EnCana would have owned.

• A tripling of polluted water to be discharged into the ocean.

In reducing the gas export capacity, EnCana has prolonged the expected operating life to 13 years from 11.5 years, improving the overall economics of Deep Panuke.

The company is now weighing two options bringing the gas onshore: Building its own undersea pipeline to tie in with the Maritimes & Northeast pipeline, which carries gas to New England from the nearby Sable field or building a subsea pipeline to interconnect with the Sable pipeline at an offshore point.

EnCana hopes earlier development work submitted to regulators will accelerate the approval process, allowing it to make a final go-ahead decision in late 2007.

It is also seeking a streamlined process, noting it has prior environmental approvals.

However, the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board has promised full public input, although the Ecology Action Center in Halifax said it will boycott any review, saying it is disenchanted with the government “green light” attitude toward the offshore industry.

The board is still inviting the public to say what it would like to address in the environmental assessment.

—Gary Park