Shell to spend $1B on N.S.'s offshore oil and gas
 

BIG NEWS! That's 1 Billion with a B. Offshore exploration is back in business in Nova Scotia.

Great news!!!

This is very good news. With so much gas off the Nova Scotian shore it seems probable there there are major oil fields also.

If this really pans out along with ship building and an already diverse and rather strong ecconomy things seem t be heading the right diretion and could soon all fall into place for lil' old Scotia:tup:

I wonder how much credit Dexter is willing t take for all this?

I believe Shell is also entertaining the idea of more future office space here in Halifax as well. I wonder how much they would require? It might be enough to relieve the hit we took with Emera moving down to the Piers.

Maybe they will rent space in the Waterside project? However, it won't be ready for another couple of years.

He can't take all the credit, but the province has played a key role in reviving the offshore. The oil industry had basically given up in the late 90s after other wells after Sable kept coming up dry. So the province and other partners undertook their own "Fairways Analysis" of the geology to identify where there is likely to be oil. The analysis is basically the upfront work that oil companies do when they're figuring out where to look for oil. The Analysis was provided to everyone and is part of why we now have Shell spending a billion on exploration. It seems like one of those moments where government has played a very positive role. If Shell finds a developable find out there, the effort will have been well worth it!

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/54163-comprehensive-offshore-analysis-draws-industry-praise

Most definetly !

I am suprised at the NDP involvment in this type of business though , I find them to be a little too ecco sensitive most of the time and had they been opposition I think they would have been against it.... Just my opinion though.

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A lot of credit is due to the previous PC government who put 15 million into reserch to find out how much oil and gas is out there. Oil companies are taking notice.

Thanks for the clarification. The $15 million dollar Play_Fairway_Analysis study was initiated by the Tories in May 2009 before the NDP was voted into office:
"The Play Fairway Program was initiated in May 2009 with a workshop attended by leading academic thinkers from Canada, Europe and Morocco." (source - http://www.offshoreenergyresearch.ca/OETR/OETRPlayFairwayProgramMainPage/tabid/402/Default.aspx). But much of the credit should go to all the scientists involved in the study.

Oil the goal for $1B N.S. offshore program: Shell

Paul Withers CBC News Posted: Aug 23, 2012 3:18 PM AT Last Updated: Aug 23, 2012 4:39 PM AT

Read the story here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/08/23/ns-offshore-oil-1-billion.html

Here's hoping they find oil.. and lots of it.

God knows we need some good business news after the $125 Million boondoggle that New Page has become, even worse today with the news that Stern wants to reduce an already reduced tax assessment. $500,000 tax on a billion dollar paper plant is ridiculous. At least Shell will pay their fair share. DD should have given the $125M to Esso to improve the Dartmouth refinery to keep it going... more sense than a pulp mill if you ask me, especially if we find our own oil to process.

:previous:
So BP is spending $1 billion now along with Shell's $1 billion. $2 billion is not chump change, they are both expecting to find some major oil deposits in our deep water. :tup:

Interesting news but the articles I've read on this haven't been very clear. Is this a promise to spend money on exploration? Is the "deposit" really revenue for the province? I wonder how much they have to spend in NS and chance of success are.

It is funny that they had to delay this for a few days, not that it made much difference. If anything the $4.5B ruling might be positive; they won't want that to happen again. I'd be a lot more worried if they caused a mess like that and weren't held accountable.

These are the interesting quotes from the article:

These are drilling rights, which total almost $2 billion for 2012. This amount should be going into NS provincial coffers upfront.

But this quote from the NS premier doesn't make much sense:

Shouldn't that be a $2 billion financial injection into NS provincial coffers for calendar year 2012 as a result of these drilling rights?

Or do things work differently in NS v. Alberta and BC. To put things into perspective, BC's record year for drilling rights was 2008 when $2.66 billion was garnered and flowed directly into the BC provincial treasury. On top of that, ~$7 billion is spent every year on field development.

Strange. 100% of drilling rights in both BC and AB are paid upfront into their respective provincial treasuries.

Nevertheless, these big players would not be spending these funds for drilling rights in NS if they were not confident in their endeavours.

What are they doing with all of this money???

We can't afford a stadium?

Good news for the $2 billion in exploration rights awarded for Shell and BP. Sounds like Shell and BP will be setting offices up in Halifax soon.

Whoa... that will improve leasing for various developments.

Wasn't shell here before and they left? or was that Exxon?

Hope it works out for NS!, i know it has done nothing put good things for us in NL :cheers: