ExxonMobil Corp. confirmed reports Monday that it would raise its natural gas production from the Sable Offshore Energy Project in Canada to 600 MMcfd from its current production of 500 MMcfd when two pipelines linking Sable Island gas to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are complete.
ExxonMobil will ramp up production to 550 MMcfd, once those lines are open later this month, and eventually raise output to 600 MMcfd. An ExxonMobil spokesman said the company had always intended to increase production to that level, but held off disclosing that target until it was known whether the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick laterals would be finished close to the scheduled completion date.
Gas production from Sable Island is being transported to markets in eastern Canada and the US Northeast via the 650-mile, 530-MMcfd Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline.
ExxonMobil Corp. said in January that it had completed the $2 billion Sable Offshore Energy Project off the coast of Nova Scotia in eastern Canada with the delivery of its first natural gas sale into Maritimes & Northeast.
The project includes three offshore platforms, a 125-mile subsea pipeline, natural gas processing and fractionation plants, and the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. ExxonMobil and its partners plan to produce gas and gas liquids from six fields that contain an estimated 3.5 tcf of gas and 100 million bbl of gas liquids.
Sable gas first flowed Dec. 18, 1999, from the offshore Thebaud Central Processing platform through the 200-km subsea pipeline to the gas plant at Goldboro, NS. Initial production at the plant was 110 MMcfd. Initial production also flowed from the Venture and North Triumph fields, located 125 miles off the coast of Nova Scotia. The other three fields�South Venture, Glenelg, and Alma�will be developed sometime between 2004 and 2007.
ExxonMobil holds a 59.8% interest in the Sable project through its Mobil Canada Ltd. subsidiary and its 70% interest in Imperial Oil Ltd., which holds a 9% equity share of the Sable project. ExxonMobil's partners in the Sable Island Offshore Energy Project include Shell Canada Ltd., with 31.3% interest; Nova Scotia Resources Ltd., with 8.4%; and Mosbacher Operating Ltd., with 0.5%.
ExxonMobil is also a partner in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. Its pipeline partners include affiliates of Duke Energy Corp., with 37.5%; Westcoast Energy Inc., with 37.5% interest; and NS Power Holdings Inc., with 12.5%.
