Energy Minister Promotes N.S. Resource Potential in Alberta

Building stronger relationships with oil and gas companies in Calgary and promoting Nova Scotia's resources were on the top of the agenda for Energy Minister Cecil Clarke during meetings in Calgary, Alta., this week.

"We've had productive meetings with some of Nova Scotia's key oil and gas players, both in the offshore and onshore," said Mr. Clarke. "It's all part of building stronger relationships and working to promote our resource potential - giving investors and operators more reason to look at Nova Scotia as a very attractive exploration property."

In addition to meetings with EnCana Corporation, Murphy Oil Company Limited, Shell Canada Limited and Geophysical Service Incorporated, Mr. Clarke met with Contact Exploration Inc., one of Nova Scotia's major onshore explorers and landholders.

"Our onshore industry has real potential and companies like Contact are a key part of the future exploration and development of onshore oil and natural gas in Nova Scotia," said Mr. Clarke. "In the coming months we'll continue promoting that potential, here in Calgary, in Houston, and around the world to ensure that we continue to attract investment in our resources."

Contact Exploration is a junior exploration company with natural gas properties in Alberta and a strategic focus on Canadian East Coast onshore exploration. With interests in about two million acres in Nova Scotia, Contact also has interests in about 160,000 acres in Newfoundland and Labrador.

On Friday, Mr. Clarke will join the Energy Council for the Global Perspectives 2003 conference. The Energy Council is a legislative organization of 10 energy-producing states, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The member states produce more than 80 per cent of the United States' oil and gas, and include leading coal, uranium, and renewable energy-producing states.

The member states are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming, as well as the country of Venezuela. The provinces of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Alberta are international affiliate members of the Energy Council.