Developing east coast gas - No longer a frontier : Proceedings of CERI's eastern Canadian natural gas conference

The development of east coast natural gas markets and the opportunities that that development implies for eastern Canada was the focus of this conference. The Sable Offshore Energy Project occupied centre stage, being the newest of the offshore projects. It is scheduled to start production in late 1999. More than 400 million dollars have already been spent in the province of Nova Scotia by Sable Offshore Energy Inc. The recoverable reserves of the Sable Reservoir have now been estimated to be 3.5 trillion cubic feet instead of the original estimate of 3.1 trillion cubic feet. Hibernia too, exceeded expectations. Since it began operations in December 1997, it has produced more oil than originally estimated. Moreover, the National Energy Board of Canada estimates that there are approximately 87 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in eastern Canada, divided among Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador. This resource is comparable to what is available in western Canada. The conference attracted 25 papers dealing with a wide range of topics ranging from characterization of East coast gas supply, through Canadian and northeastern U.S. markets for East coast gas, to pipeline projects, economic development opportunities and regulatory and market issues. tabs., figs