Despite the price of oil hovering near $50 per barrel, Shell Canada (“Shell”) has announced it will continue exploring off the coast of Nova Scotia. Shell, along with its partners in the Shelburne Basin exploration project, ConocoPhillips and Suncor, will adhere to their existing plans for this year and the next. Exploratory offshore drilling is expected to commence in 2015.
BP Canada (“BP”) has partnered with Hess Corporation (“Hess”) in its ongoing offshore oil exploration program. Hess has taken a 40% interest in BP’s work commitment of $1 billion with respect to four deep-water exploration blocks off the coast of Nova Scotia. BP will remain the operator for its four exploration licences, which are located approximately 300 kilometres off the coast of Nova Scotia.
In June of this year, Shell Canada Ltd. (“Shell”) announced that it had entered into an agreement with ConocoPhillips and Suncor Energy to become joint venture partners with respect to the exploration and development of Shell’s $1 billion offshore exploration project in the Shelburne Basin. Shell maintains a 50% interest in six exploration licenses that cover a contiguous area of 19,845 km2 located roughly 300 km off the coast of Nova Scotia and Shell remains the operator of the project.