Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project

The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project produced natural gas from four wells in an offshore field located approximately 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax.

Fun Facts

01

Production began in August 2013.

02

Produced Gas Equivalent Volume of 147.2 billion cubic feet.

03

Nova Scotians worked 442,022 hours on this project in 2018.

04

Permanent Production Shutdown May 2018.

Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Project Rig

Status: Decommissioned and Abandoned

The Deep Panuke Project has been permanently decommissioned and abandoned.

History

The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project is operated by Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana). Production began in August 2013, and was permanently shut-in in May 2018. The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project operated on a seasonal basis from 2015-2018, with production only during the colder winter months, when natural gas prices were higher. The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Plan estimated the most likely volume of natural gas that would be produced, over the expected production life of 13 years, to be 17.8 billion cubic meters or 632 billion cubic feet.

The Field

The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project gas field is located on the Scotian Shelf, approximately 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax. Natural gas was produced from the Abenaki Formation carbonate reservoir by four production wells.

Operations

The gas produced and processed offshore was transported via subsea pipeline to shore, and ultimately, to markets in Canada and the United States. The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project utilized a jack-up type offshore production platform, called the Production Field Centre, which was tied back to the four subsea production wells by subsea flow lines. The Production Field Centre was designed for a peak gas rate of 8.5 million cubic metres per day, or 300 million standard cubic feet per day.

The raw gas produced at The Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project contained approximately 0.18% hydrogen sulphide; therefore, gas sweetening equipment was installed on the Production Field Centre. An amine unit was used to remove hydrogen sulphide along with carbon dioxide, both of which are considered acid gas. After removal, the acid gas was injected into a purpose drilled disposal well.

The total volume of gas produced from each of the four Deep Panuke production wells appears in the table below.

Field Name
Total Production – E6M3
(Millions of cubic metres)
Total Production - Bcf
(Billions of cubic feet)
MarCoh D-41
                   1,699
                  60.0
Margaree F-70
                     851
                  30.0
Panuke M-79A
                     906
                  32.0
Panuke H-08
                     715
                  25.2
Total Production
                   4,171
                 147.2

Decommissioning and Abandonment

Production from the four Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development production wells was permanently shut-in in May 2018. The plug and abandonment program involved the use of a jack-up drilling rig, the Noble Regina Allen (NRA), to set a series of cement and mechanical plugs within the wellbore to permanently seal the wells in accordance with the regulations. This was to prevent hydrocarbons from migrating within or out of the well.

The NRA departed Halifax Harbour in February 2020, to transit offshore to begin decommissioning and abandonment activities. The Production Field Centre was removed with the Kvaerner Canada Ltd. Boabarge 34 in July 2020. The plugging and abandonment of the five project wells (four production wells and one injection well) was completed in August 2020. Ovintiv used the DOF Skandi Neptune to remove subsea assets (e.g. well head protection structures). This work was completed and the project was fully decommissioned and abandoned by October 2020. 

A post-abandonment monitoring program was completed in the summer of 2021 to re-confirm the integrity of the well plugging and abandonment program, and to confirm that there is nothing on the seabed that could pose a potential hazard to other commercial ocean users.  The CNSOPB was satisfied that the post-abandonment monitoring requirements were met and concluded future monitoring was not required.  The Operations Authorization for Deep Panuke was revoked and the project officially closed.

Please note that some information related to this project may be archived. For more information, please contact us at info@cnsopb.ns.ca.

Project Information

We publish reports and data on oil and gas activities. View the status of a project and reports related to production, environmental effects monitoring, and industrial benefits, if available, below. You can also view requests made by operators for project deviations, and decisions made by our Chief Safety Officer or Chief Conservation Officer to ensure that regulatory requirements are upheld.

Application StatusOperators working in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area must submit an application and an authorization must be granted before this work can begin. View current applications and approval statuses here.

* Operations Authorization – Install/Remove (OA-R) grants approval for a proponent to carry out any activity in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area related to the installation or removal of oil and gas facilities.

* Operations Authorization – Production (OA-P) grants approval for a proponent to carry out any activity in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area related to oil and gas production. 

* Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (ACW) is required to re-enter, workover, complete, recomplete, suspend or abandon a well or part of it. The application for an ACW is reviewed in conjunction with the operator’s application for an Operations Authorization – Drilling (OA-D) or Operations Authorization – Production (OA-P), as applicable.


Activity Applicant Date Submitted Approval Status

Operations Authorization – Install/Remove - AMENDMENT

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

26/04/21

Approved (13/08/21)

Operations Authorization – Install/Remove - AMENDMENT

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

20/08/20

Approved (11/09/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke H-08)
(Cutting/Removal of Well Conductors and Casing Strings)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

26/08/20

Approved (09/09/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Margaree E-70)
(Cutting/Removal of Well Conductors and Casing Strings)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

26/08/20

Approved (09/09/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Margaree F-70)
(Cutting/Removal of Well Conductors and Casing Strings)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

26/08/20

Approved (09/09/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (MarCoh D-41)
(Cutting/Removal of Well Conductors and Casing Strings)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

26/08/20

Approved (09/09/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke M-79A)
(Cutting/Removal of Well Conductors and Casing Strings)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

26/08/20

Approved (09/09/20)

Operations Authorization – Production - AMENDMENT

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

20/08/20

Approved (09/09/20)

Operations Authorization - Install/Remove

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

03/03/20

Approved (03/07/20)

Operations Authorization - Production - AMENDMENT

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

27/01/20 Approved (13/02/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Margaree F-70)(Plug and abandonment phase)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

12/12/19

Approved (28/02/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke M-79A)(Plug and abandonment phase)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

12/12/19

Approved (28/02/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke H-08)(Plug and abandonment phase)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

12/12/19

Approved (28/02/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Margaree F-70)(Plug and abandonment phase)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

12/12/19

Approved (28/02/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (MarCoh D-41)(Plug and abandonment phase)

Ovintiv Canada ULC (formerly Encana)

02/12/19

Approved (28/02/20)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (MarCoh D-41) (Injection phase)

Encana Corporation

07/08/19

Approved (19/08/19)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke M-79A) (Injection phase)

Encana Corporation

07/08/19

Approved (19/08/19)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Margaree F-70) (Injection phase)

Encana Corporation

07/08/19

Approved (19/08/19)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke H-08) (Injection phase)

Encana Corporation

07/08/19

Approved (19/08/19)

Operations Authorization - Production – AMENDMENT

Encana Corporation

27/06/19

Approved (02/08/19)

Operations Authorization - Production - AMENDMENT

Encana Corporation

28/02/19

Approved (08/04/19)

Operations Authorization - Production - AMENDMENT

Encana Corporation

14/06/18

Approved (19/09/18)

Operations Authorization - Production - AMENDMENT

Encana Corporation

30/04/18

Approved (15/06/18)

Well Approval: Approval to Alter the Condition of a Well (Panuke PI-1B)

Encana Corporation

30/04/18

Approved (15/06/18)

Operations Authorization - Production - RENEWAL

Encana Corporation

31/05/17

Approved (31/07/17)

Weekly Activity Reports We provide operational updates and production data via weekly activity reports.

Activity reports provide the public with a weekly update of petroleum-related activities in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area. 

* Links below are Adobe Acrobat Files.

Date Document Title
01/11/2023 PDF icon November 01, 2023
25/09/2023 PDF icon September 25, 2023
24/07/2023 PDF icon July 24, 2023
05/06/2023 PDF icon June 05, 2023
23/11/2022 PDF icon November 23, 2022

Monthly Production by Field and WellAs part of our comprehensive Monitoring and Compliance program, our team also monitors oil and gas production from offshore projects. This is required as part of our regulatory mandate of resource conservation. View total production data for the Deep Panuke Offshore Gas Development Project here.

Environmental Effects Monitoring Projects taking place in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore area are closely monitored to better understand the effects of associated oil and gas activity on the surrounding environment. Learn more about the environmental effects of this offshore project here.

* Learn more about Environmental Effects Monitoring, view our Guiding Framework.

Benefit ReportsFor approved development projects, operators are required to submit annual benefits reports to us. View the reports for this project here.

Equivalent Standards and ExemptionsUnder certain circumstances, the Accord Acts provide our Chief Safety Officer and/or Chief Conservation Officer with the authority to allow an alternate approach to meeting regulatory requirements. Regulatory Query Forms to request an alternate approach are processed and administered by our Operations/Health, Safety & Environment team.

  • Our Chief Safety Officer and/or Chief Conservation Officer are responsible for approving or declining Regulatory Query proposals, taking into consideration input provided by our technical team.
     
  • Generally speaking, before allowing an alternate approach to regulatory compliance, the Chief Safety Officer and/or Chief Conservation Officer must be convinced that the proposed approach provides a level of safety, environmental protection and conservation equivalent to that provided in regulation.
     
  • We post all in-effect Regulatory Query decisions made by our Chief Safety Officer and/or Chief Conservation Officer on our website, for public information purposes. Note: Regulatory Query decisions made prior to April 13, 2012 are not posted.
     
  • Regulatory Query applications for alternatives under the Occupational Health and Safety provisions of the Accord Acts (Part 3.1 - federal, and Part 3(A) - provincial) are made available for public comment in advance of the decision process. Comments received are reviewed by our Chief Safety Officer and/or Chief Conservation Officer prior to making a Regulatory Query decision.
     
  • Operators are required to submit a Regulatory Query Form to request an alternate approach.
     
  • We have a directive describing the submission process operators should follow when submitting a Regulatory Query Form. Check out our Regulatory Queries Directive on our Legislation and Regulatory Instruments page.

Regulatory Query Decisions

The following are Regulatory Query decisions that have been made by our Chief Safety Officer and/or Chief Conservation officer for an alternate approach to meeting certain regulatory requirements. You can view the decisions made by clicking on the links in the table below.

Date

Document Title

Author

  No RQs Currently In Effect