BP plugging exploratory well in Scotian Basin

Drilling project “did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons”

BP Canada is proceeding with plugging and abandonment activities to permanently seal the Aspy D-11 exploration well in the Scotian Basin after drilling a total depth of 7,400 metres.

“The prospect did not encounter commercial quantities of hydrocarbons,” states a news release issued by the Hess Corporation, who is BP Canada’s partner in the Scotian Basin Exploration Drilling Program. BP Canada as operator and Hess each hold a 50 per cent participating interest.

BP Canada could drill as many as seven exploratory wells in waters 230 to 370 kilometres off the southeast coast along the Scotian Shelf between 2018 and 2022 (Exploration Licences 2431, 2432, 2433, and 2434) by 2022.

“Prior to drilling any subsequent wells, BP Canada would be required to obtain a new OA-D (Operations Authorization – Drilling) for each drilling program and ADW (Approval to Drill a Well) for each individual well,” said Stacy O’Rourke, spokesperson for the Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB). “BP Canada has not filed any applications with the CNSOPB for future wells at this time. Should any future wells be proposed, information will be posted under the Latest News section on our website.”

The news of BP Canada’s dry well is being welcomed by the Offshore Alliance, a coalition representing fishermen, environmental groups, and coastal communities.

“It’s a relief to hear BP has not found commercial quantities of oil. For the sake of our climate and our communities, we should see this as an opportunity to implement a moratorium on dangerous offshore exploration,” said Angela Giles, Atlantic regional organizer with the Council of Canadians in a press release. “Fossil fuel expansion is not part of our just transition to a sustainable future, and we should waste no more time or money looking for oil we can’t burn anyway. ”

The Alliance, as well as a host of other organizations including the Council of Canadians through the Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia, have called for a moratorium on offshore drilling pending a full federal/provincial public inquiry, stating the case that although Nova Scotia created an independent panel on fracking onshore, it has never had a parallel study of oil exploration and drilling offshore where much more is at stake.

“Even looking for oil has serious consequences for other industries. The province needs to stop gambling on high-risk offshore oil projects and start betting on Nova Scotia’s renewable, sustainable sectors,” said John Davis, director of the Clean Ocean Action Committee. “In its latest subsidy to the oil and gas sector, the province has invested $11.8 million to help find oil and gas deposits. This is funding that should be used to help create local, renewable sector jobs in fisheries and tourism that will actually help us tackle climate change and sustain Nova Scotia’s coastal communities in the longterm.”

A poll commissioned by the Council of Canadians released in October showed that 54 per cent of Nova Scotians oppose BP drilling for oil in offshore Nova Scotia.

“If oil had been found, our oceans, fishing grounds, climate, and endangered species would remain under threat because our decision-making process is designed to facilitate industry, not protect the environment,” said Marion Moore with the Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia. “BP spilled 136,000L of drilling mud after just 61 days of operations, and future projects are being reviewed with the same lens that allowed it to happen. We need an accountable, arms-length inquiry to determine if drilling projects like this are worth the risk.”

Simon Ryder-Burbidge, Marine Conservation Officer at the Ecology Action Centre, said BP “coming up dry may give us a much-needed breather to truly address (the) risks. If a spill were to happen a capping stack is two weeks away, at minimum, and BP’s plan to deal with a spill is to introduce more toxic chemicals into the water,” he said.

“We need a more independent and transparent process to assess offshore oil and gas projects in Canada,” said Lisa Mitchell, executive director of East Coast Environmental Law. “The new Impact Assessment Act that is before the Senate today includes some positive steps but still allows captured regulators too much influence in the assessment of these proposed projects. Unless we take time to fix how we review and regulate these projects, we will continue to place oceans, coastal communities and renewable industries like fishing and tourism at unnecessary risk.”

Gretchen Fitzgerald, National Program Director at Sierra Club Canada Foundation, said the “future cannot include more fossil fuel projects. Our geology, not our leaders, saved us this time. Next time we might not be so lucky.”

There are currently no other exploratory drilling programs taking place in the Canada-Nova Scotia offshore.