|
From the Halifax Herald...
Moving to Newfoundland
ExxonMobil’s new president shifts operations from Halifax to St. John’s
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu, Jul 22 - 6:07 AM
ExxonMobil’s Venture O-32 satellite platform, part of the Sable gas system. (PETER PARSONS / Staff)
THE NEW president of ExxonMobil Canada will be moving to Newfoundland and Labrador instead of Nova Scotia.
The current president is based in Halifax but incoming president Meg O’Neill will move operations to St. John’s, the company confirmed Wednesday.
After more than a decade having its president located in downtown Halifax, the world’s largest oil and gas company is moving its Canadian president to where there is more activity.
ExxonMobil is involved in Newfoundland’s Hebron, Hibernia and Terra Nova offshore oilfields.
“The decision to have the incoming president reside in Newfoundland and Labrador is a reflection of the level of activity currently taking place in Newfoundland and Labrador. The company is currently involved in exploration, development and production in Newfoundland and Labrador," said Margot Bruce-O’Connell, ExxonMobil’s spokeswoman in St. John’s. ExxonMobil is also the lead operator in the Sable offshore natural gas project, which she described as “in a steady state of operation at this time."
O’Neill has experience in deepwater drilling, having worked with the company in New Orleans, and is currently reservoir engineering manager for ExxonMobil Production Company in Houston. She will start her new job in August and replaces Glenn Scott, who has been transferred to Calgary as senior vice-president of the resources division for Imperial Oil Ltd.
Mike Honderich is the operations superintendent responsible for the Sable project, and continues to be based in Halifax.
The Sable natural gas project has been in operation since December 1990, with three offshore fields — North Triumph, Venture and Thebaud — spread out over 40 kilometres. It delivers gas to markets in Atlantic Canada and the U.S. northeast.
Royalties to the province from the Sable project have exceeded $1.3 billion since it began pumping gas.
New figures released this week from the Canada – Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board show the volume of natural gas produced so far this year is the lowest since production began.
The figures show natural gas production was down 14 per cent from 2009, a year in which royalties peaked at $450 million.
The ExxonMobil-led Sable project has pumped 1.67 billion cubic metres of gas in the first six months of this year.
Earlier this month, ExxonMobil announced it will not be extending the life of the Sable project by developing what are called significant discovery licences near the project.
Production, which has been in decline in recent years, determines how much cash the province collects in royalties from the Sable partners, which include petroleum multinationals ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, and Calgary companies Pengrowth Energy Trust and Mosbacher Operating Ltd .
(From the Chronicle Herald Website).
I post this mainly to show the list of other companies doing work out in the field, beyond ExxonMobil.
I suspect production will remain in decline until the price of NG starts going up again. Off shore production needs a minimum amount to be profitable and I don't believe the current price (in the $4.50 range last I checked) is quite enough. If it goes back up into the $6 to $7 range; then you will see things pick up.
|