Based on early data acquired through 3-D seismic testing, the next big thing in the province’s oil and gas industry could very well be located off the coast of Labrador.
“The similar seismic signatures could be suggestive of similar properties,” Wright said.
How lucrative could the Labrador south deposit be?
Wright said it’s much too early to predict and that more information should become available by the third quarter of this year when Paris, France-based Beicip Franlab completes the resource assessment.
“Right now we have a very detailed base-modelling process underway, which is basically looking at all the rock units that were deposited in the slope and deep water off Labrador, what their temperatures look like, what type of oil and/or gas can be generated from those rocks and where it would be collected.
“When that computationally intense process finishes, we’ll have a much better perspective on potential resources for both gas and oil in that area.”
As for whether or not the waters off Labrador are a hospitable place to drill for oil and gas, Wright says Nalcor’s metocean study in association with C-Core looking at ice, wind, waves and iceberg conditions indicate the risks drop off in the areas being explored and are similar to conditions in the West Orphan and Flemish Pass.
“The big question is not necessarily going to be operability in the licence round, it’s logisitcs getting back and forth to the shoreline,” Wright said. “With helicopters you can overfly the ice. However, for shipping, for certain months of the year you’d have to come out around the ice from the south.”
During the summer months, Nalcor Energy will have Norwegian survey duo TGS and PGS back to conduct some 3-D seismic mapping of the East Orphan Basin, an area that covers 9,000 square kilometres.