Oil and Gas Developments in Eastern Canada in 1983

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Results from a record drilling year offshore the Canadian east coast were 5 gas wells, 3 oil wells, 20 wells plugged and suspended or plugged and abandoned, and 6 wells drilling at year end. Thirty-seven exploration agreements, covering an area of 22.1 million ha. (54.6 million acres), were negotiated between COGLA and various companies. Terms require the drilling of 43 wells and expenditures of about $2.1 billion.(FOOTNOTE 3) The federal government and Newfoundland continued their dispute over offshore resources ownership, with a provincial supreme court decision in favor of the federal government being appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Delineation drilling continued in the Hibernia and Venture areas. To date, 9 wells have been drilled in the Hibernia area and 5 w lls in the Venture area. The Geological Survey of Canada estimated the average expected recoverable reserves for eastern Canada offshore at 2.4 × 1012 m3 of gas (84.8 tcf) and 1.9 × 109 m3 of oil (12 billion bbl). Discovered reserves are 225.1 × 106 m3 (1.4 billion bbl) of oil and 245.6 × 109 m3 (8.7 tcf) of gas. In Ontario, drilling activity remained stable in 1983 with 165 exploratory and development wells resulting in 63 gas producers, 28 oil producers, and 74 dry holes. Two Ordovician Trenton discoveries sparked interest once again in the deeper pay zones of Ontario. Initial reported production from the Rowe-Ram 1 Dover East 7-5-V discovery was 49 m3 of oil/day (308 BOPD). The OGS 82-3 Yarmouth well in Elgin County confirmed the presence of oil in Cambrian sediments in an area where the predominate trapping mechanism for hydrocarbons is a structural trap associated with faulting. Recently published data lists potential Ordovician reserves in Ontario at 9.7 × 109 m3 (343 bcf) of gas and 5.4 × 106 m3 (34 million bbl) of oil.Oil production in eastern Canada amounted to 754 m3 (4,743 bbl) in New Brunswick and 84,788.2 m3 (533,302 bbl) in Ontario, for a total of 85,542.2 m3 (538,044 bbl). Total gas production in 1983 increased 5% to 465,430.4 × 103 m3 (16.4 bcf) from 441,804.5 × 103 m3 (15.6 bcf) in 1982.