Premier Says PanCanadian Moves Mean Offshore Benefits
PREMIER'S OFFICE--Premier Says PanCanadian Moves Mean Offshore Benefits
Premier John Hamm says recent contract awards show the Province is gaining more benefits from the development of the offshore.
"Our strategy of increasing the economic benefits to Nova Scotians is clearly paying off," said Premier Hamm. "The recent announcements of engineering work and rig construction in Nova Scotia clearly demonstrate the ability of our province to do high-quality offshore work. It also shows the industry is listening when we say more work needs to be done here."
PanCanadian Petroleum of Calgary recently stepped up activity offshore Nova Scotia. On Thursday, the company awarded a front- end engineering design contract for its Deep Panuke project to a joint venture between Halifax-based Accent Engineering and Siapem Energy Services of Great Britain.
Earlier today, Ocean Rig -- a joint-venture partner of PanCanadian -- also announced that the outfitting and conversion of the semi-submersible rig Eric Raude will be done by the Irving-owned Halifax Shipyard. The huge rig will also undergo winterizing to enable it to operate offshore year-round. This partnership between PanCanadian and Ocean Rig of Norway will be based in Halifax.
"We are particularly pleased that these announcements strengthen Nova Scotia as the base for offshore management and control," said Petroleum Directorate Minister Gordon Balser. "In order for Nova Scotia to maximize its opportunities offshore, we need more decisions made in our province.
"Having the front-end engineering design work done here and having a world-class deepwater drilling rig based here is in line with our long-term strategy to increase Nova Scotia economic benefits."
PanCanadian's announcement that the front-end engineering work will be done in Halifax follows an announcement earlier this year that Sable Offshore Energy Inc.(SOEI) will do its front-end engineering, design and procurement-management work on the second phase of its project in Halifax. That contract was awarded to a joint venture of SNC Lavelin and Kaverner.
In addition, the exploration side of the industry is picking up its pace. PanCanadian has begun work on the first of several wells offshore Nova Scotia this year, using the jack-up rig Rowan Gorilla V. Shell Canada is working on plans to use the jack-up rig Santa Fe Galaxy II for a well this fall. Marathon Canada has an agreement with Smedvig of Norway to use Smedvig's drilling ship West Navion to drill Nova Scotia's first modern-day deepwater well later this year. The Eric Raude is expected to begin deepwater drilling in 2002.