TransCanada Corp. eyes big gains from proposed Keystone XL Pipeline
New pipeline project promises enriched revenues for all
B.C. Bonanza
Prolific geology lures British energy empire
The celebrated northern Horn River Basin is not the only shale deposit fueling growth in natural gas production from British Columbia. Development is accelerating in the less spectacular but more accessible Montney formation of mixed “tight” rock and shale near the Dawson Creek southern starting point of the Alaska Highway.
The prolific geology has lured BP back into Canadian supply development after a long absence due to a shortage of drilling targets big enough to interest the world’s third-largest fossil fuels empire. A $1.4-billion project called Noel is going ahead 20 kilometers south of Dawson Creek, BP Canada Energy Co. vice-president Phil Aldis told a B.C. gas symposium held in Calgary by the Canadian Institute.
The B.C. project will develop 130 million cubic feet per day of production over the next eight to 10 years with 130 long-leg horizontal wells. Initial production is scheduled by the end of this year.
Aldis indicated that skeptics of shale gas misunderstand the resource by suggesting that current high production levels are mere brief first flows and the wells will deplete fast. The new gas sources will last 30 to 40 years, he predicted.
The long well lives prompted BP to use new technology that will keep its B.C. development in the gas vanguard for decades, Aldis said. Innovations include electric motors, solar power, automated well control systems, a fiber-optic cable network and sealed production testing. The system is designed to curb noise pollution and cut carbon emissions by 90 per cent compared to current standard gas fields.
British Columbia means business
about breaking into big time natural gas development with industry-friendly royalties & regulation
The duty to consult aboriginal communities on energy projects cuts both ways, the Federal Court of Canada has ruled in dismissing a lawsuit against pipeline construction by TransCanada Corp. and Enbridge Inc. Manitoba First Nations protested in court rather than try to resolve issues during National Energy Board project reviews. In a late spring
decision, Justice Robert Barnes wrote,
“To the extent that regulatory procedures are readily accessible to aboriginal communities to address their concerns about development projects, there is a responsibility to use them. First Nations cannot complain about a failure by the Crown to consult where they have failed to avail themselves of reasonable avenues for seeking relief.”
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