GENERAL INTEREST / Sable Energy Project Now Official
HALIFAX, Feb. 11 /CNW/ - The owners of the $3 billion Sable Offshore
Energy Project (SOEP) made it official in Halifax today.
With all regulatory approvals in place at both Federal and Provincial
levels, the owners -- Mobil Oil Canada Properties Limited, Shell Canada
Limited, Imperial Oil Resources Limited, Nova Scotia Resources Limited and
Mosbacher Operating Limited -- have now signed both their key commercial
agreements and the Facilities Alliance Agreement to engineer, construct and
install the facilities. This formally commits the owners to the $2 billion
first phase which will deliver the first gas from offshore Nova Scotia in late
1999.
''Today marks the most important step taken in the history of our
industry in Nova Scotia,'' Mobil Oil Canada president Jerry Anderson said on
behalf of the owners. ''We have formally set in motion the engineering,
procurement, construction and installation of the first phase to produce gas
from the Venture, North Triumph and Thebaud fields.
'And we're putting down roots here as we establish a new company, Sable
Offshore Energy Incorporated (SOE Inc.), based in Halifax, to manage the
project and oversee operations through its life,'' Anderson said.
John Brannan, currently Mobil Oil Canada's Well Operations Manager, will
become General Manager of SOE Inc. and Lynn Zeidler of Shell Canada will
continue as Tier 1 (first phase) Implementation Manager. They will be
responsible for day-to-day management of the project and will report to the
owners through the Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated Management Committee.
The project Facilities Alliance Agreement, signed today, formalizes the
previously announced alliance between the seven companies (Allseas Canada
Limited, BBA, Elsag Bailey (Canada) Inc., Kvaerner Oil and Gas Ltd,
MMIndustra/Brown&Root Joint Venture, Saipem UK Ltd, and AGRA
Monenco/Brown&Root Joint Venture) to carry out the engineering, procurement,
construction and installation of the facilities.
''We're pleased to sign this document and confirm this alliance,''
Anderson said. ''I know the members have already been working hard to ensure
we meet our start-up date in late 1999. Both SOE Inc and the Facilities
Alliance are committed to meeting our stringent environmental and safety
standards and to ensuring Nova Scotia and Canada benefit as much as possible
from this development.''
All the owners paid tribute to the support received in Nova Scotia and
Canada generally in the past three years. ''Without this support, we would not
be here today confirming the largest single investment in Nova Scotia's
history,'' Anderson added. Shell Canada Limited's Senior Operating Officer,
Resources, Neal McKim, said the 1996 and 1997 3-D seismic programs were
yielding encouraging results.
''Work to date shows the reserve potential is greater than initial
estimates and we now believe we will be able to recover more than 3.5 trillion
cubic feet of natural gas,'' McKim said. ''This is great news as it will
enable us to increase initial production to help meet growing market demand,
especially in Canada's Maritime region.''
The owners expect initial production of more than 500 million cubic feet
of gas per day (mmcfd) up from the currently planned average daily rate of 460
mmcfd. This new production will be within the facilities design capacity of
554 mmcfd sales gas rate.
''While we still have work to do to complete the assessments of the 3-D
information and update computer simulations, we're hopeful we'll be able to
maintain these higher rates over the longer term,'' McKim added. ''The final
proof, however, won't come until we experience actual well and field
performance.''
Natural gas from the Sable project will be transported to markets in Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick and New England by the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline
which will be in service in 1999.
The owners of Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated are:
Mobil Oil Canada Properties Limited 50.8 per cent
Shell Canada Limited 31.3 per cent
Imperial Oil Resources Limited 9.0 per cent
Nova Scotia Resources Limited 8.4 per cent
Mosbacher Operating Limited 0.5 per cent |
