The Government of Canadian province Nova Scotia has chosen petroleum consultancy firm Beicip-Franlab to develop a comprehensive geoscience picture of the Sydney Basin, off Cape Breton.
The government said on Monday that the new research would help Nova Scotians and the industry to better understand the oil and gas resource potential lying off the coast of Cape Breton.
Acting Energy Minister of Nova Scotia Lloyd Hines said: “Our model of investing in geoscience research to attract major international firms has created jobs and resulted in commitments worth more than $2 billion for exploration programs.
“We know our offshore potential is tremendous, and that’s why we continue to increase our knowledge locally so we can build our competitive advantage globally.”
The investment in the amount of $854,000 is part of the government’s four-year, $12 million commitment to help grow Nova Scotia’s offshore sector.
The information gathered will build on previous research to develop the Play Fairway Analysis, which indicates Nova Scotia has more than 120 trillion cubic feet of gas and eight billion barrels of oil in the province’s offshore area.
Maritimes Energy Association CEO, Ray Ritcey, said: “Energy production projects don’t happen overnight, they take many years to come together. The more we understand now about our resource potential, the better our companies can prepare to develop future opportunities.”
The work by Beicip-Franlab is expected to be completed during the summer of 2017.