South Coast Today - shelburne basin

Opinion: Are Leona Aglukkaq and Stephen Harper fucking crazy?

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 18:58:26 +0000

We all better hope that the people running Shell Canada are not as stupid as the people currently running our government.

Because the devastation caused by a major oil and gas drilling blowout can be so monumental - as evidenced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico which spilled 650 million litres of oil into the gulf and onto the beaches and wetlands of Mississippi, Louisiana, Floridana and god knows where else - U.S. regulations requires blowouts to be capped within 24 hours.

Now, when Shell oil wants to drill in the Shelburne basin near some of the richest fishing grounds in the world, federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq approved an offshore drilling plan that allows up to 21 days to contain a subsea blowout, when the most recent.

21 days?

On June 15, Aglukkaq signed off on the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency's assessment of Shell Canada's Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Drilling Project.

Shell Canada's spill containment plan, accepted by the agency, says it can have a primary capping stack in place within 12 to 21 days after a blowout off southern Nova Scotia.

John Davis, a long-time environmentalist who spends a lot of time on Nova Scotia's South Shore, told CBC today that Shell's plan doesn't make sense.

"It seems to me almost inconceivable that [Shell] would give themselves up to 21 days to stop a blowout in an area that is so close to all of our major fishing ground here on the South Shore," he said.

Shell Canada says the capping stack equipment would be brought in from Stavanger, Norway.

Norway?

Shell said it would also deploy a backup capping stack from either Scotland, South Africa, Singapore or Brazil.

Scotland, South Africa, Singapore or Brazil?

Environment Canada and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency have refused to explain Aglukkaq's reasoning for approving Shell Canada's well containment plan for Shelburne Basin, deferring questions to the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board.

That board has historically been a rubber stamp for industry wishes.

The costs of a major blowout would cripple this area, as they did much of the Gulf Coast. Some examples: (in addition to the 650 million litres of oil):

$42 billion in clean-up costs
Billions in fines to BP and others
25,000 kilometres of spoiled coastline, spanning five states. Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.
400 animal species affected. Over 6,000 dead birds, over 600 dead sea turtles, over 150 dead mammals

We all better hope that the people running Shell Canada are not as stupid as the people currently running our government.

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DEEPWATER HORIZON

shelburne basin

Shell drilling in Shelburne Basin gets federal OK

Timothy Gillespie — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 09:46:10 +0000

No major environmental effects, says minister

Shell Canada has received the green light to begin exploratory drilling off the coast of Nova Scotia later this year.

The project cleared its final regulatory hurdle late Monday when federal Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq gave the company conditional approval.

In a news release, Aglukkaq ruled the project won’t have a major impact on the environment.

“We are pleased that the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency issued its environmental decision statements on the Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Drilling Project,” Larry Lalonde, spokesman for Shell Canada Ltd., said in an interview Monday night.

“We’re also happy that the Canadian minister of environment stated in the decision statement that she’s of the opinion that the project will not cause significant adverse environmental effects.

“This is a significant milestone for our venture.”

Shell will be assessing conditions that the project must meet with respect to mitigation measures and followup requirements, Lalonde said.

SEE CHRONICLE HERALD STORY

https://www.herald.ns.ca/business/1293351-shell-gets-go-ahead-for-shelburne-basin-drilling-project

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Last chance for public input in Shell Canada offshore project

Timothy Gillespie — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 10:16:44 +0000

Pending regulatory approval, Shell anticipates starting drilling two wells in the second half of 2015.

The Canadian Environmental Asessment Agency has announced that there remains one more vopportunity for Nova Scotia citizens to make comments about Shell Canada's Shelburne Basin deepwater oil exploration project.

The multi-billion dollar project is one of two proposed for the area, with BP yet to make an application for seismic exploration.

In 2014, Shell announced that ConocoPhillips and Suncor Energy will join Shell as Joint Venture partners on its Deepwater Shelburne Basin Venture Exploration Program.
Seismic ship

The agreement reached between the three companies, according to a news release from Shell, involves Shell farming down non-operated equity in its Shelburne Exploration Licenses, offshore Nova Scotia, Canada. Shell will maintain a 50% interest and remain operator. ConocoPhillips will acquire a 30% non-operating interest and Suncor will acquire a 20% non-operating interest.

“With ConocoPhillips a leading global deepwater company and Suncor one of Canada’s largest energy companies with extensive Atlantic Canada offshore experience, we look forward to their involvement in the venture,” said Mark Shuster, executive vice president of Shell Upstream Americas Exploration.

Shell’s six Exploration Licenses (ELs 2423, 2424, 2425, 2426, 2429 and 2430) cover a contiguous area of 19,845 km² about 300 kilometres offshore of Nova Scotia. They are located in water depths of between 500 and 3,500 metres. Shell acquired the first four exploration licenses in 2012 and the other two in 2013 for a combined “Work Expenditure Bid” of $CAD998 million. The exploration licenses are good for a period of six years.

Shell conducted the first 3D Wide Azimuth Seismic (WAZ) Survey to be conducted offshore Canada in 2013, successfully acquiring 10,850 km² in one season. Although the venture team planned to acquire the seismic data over a two-year period they were successful in completing the survey in only one season, saving the company both time and additional costs, according to Shell

The company conducted a seabed survey in 2014 to build upon the data acquired from the 3D WAZ seismic survey to further assess potential drilling locations for drilling. Pending regulatory approval, Shell anticipates starting drilling two wells in the second half of 2015.

Click here TO MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT THE PROJECT

Or see notice below.

Shell Canada has conducted what it calls a "state-of-the-art seismic program" for the Shelburne Basin project, which some say will employ hundreds of people.

When asked whether this would likely mean jobs and activity anytime soon in Shelburne and surrounding areas, Barbara Pike, executive director of the Energy Association of Nova Scotia (formerly OTANS) told SCT she had her doubts.

Although there has been much anticipation in Shelburne about the prospect of the port here being the locus for exploration work for Shell, Pike warned of people in Shelburne getting their expectations for jobs and other benefits raised prematurely.

“Oil exploration is a long-term proposition,” she told SCT, “and often it is five to ten years after the start of a project before any substantial effect is felt in a region.”

Shell has committed to a near-billion dollar exploration program and has also announced that it has hired a firm to produce an economic impact study on its next four years of exploration, looking at direct and indirect impacts of Shell's operations, with emphasis on the Halifax area and the South Shore.

The exploration will take place on leases won by Shell in bidding in 2011. The firm also recently bid successfully for several other parcels in the area. BP also sucessfully bid for parcels in the area and holds two exploration leases on Georges Bank, which has been in the news recently over the unwillingness of the federal government to sign an accord with Nova Scotia regarding an oil and gas moratorium in the portion under Canadian control. No exploration dates have been set for those parcels.

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