Energy - Oil & Gas Industry
The South Peace region, along with most of northern parts of the western provinces, is part of a geological hydrocarbon bearing area known as the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and covers an area of 1.4 million square kilometers. This Sedimentary basin holds one of the largest reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the world and supplies most of the North America market.
The South Peace oil and gas sector is booming. There are 99 oil and gas companies operating in the South Peace with over 254 oil and gas wells approved in 2009. The area sits on the Montney play and covers an area of 15, 281 square kilometers and holds anywhere from 77 to 176 trillion cubic feet of marketable gas.
The offshoot infrastructure from the oil and gas activity has created a huge amount of business and jobs for thousands of workers in the area. Activities such as road and facility construction, pipelines, safety and security services, environmental assessment services, and land reclamation have created a large work force directly related to the oil and gas industry.
Projects
Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline Project
Website: www.northerngateway.ca
- Proponent- Enbridge
- A $5.5 Billion project to build dual 7,172km pipelines from near Edmonton Alberta to Kitimat British Columbia
- Provide access to new growing markets for oil and gas exports to China.
- The pipeline will export 525,000 barrels of oil a day to new marine terminal in Kitimat from Edmonton and import 193,000 barrels of condensate a day back to Edmonton.
- The pipeline will pass south of Tumbler Ridge in the South Peace region.
- Still in the regulatory review stage as of June 2010.
Groundbirch Mainline Project
Website: www.transcanada.com
- Proponent- TransCanada Pipeline
- The construction and operation of a 77km gas pipeline from an existing Alberta system to the Groundbirch area for easier transportation of gas out of the Groundbirch area to Edmonton.
- The project will include the construction of four meter stations.
- Completion is predicated for the fourth quarter in 2010
Gas Plant
Website: www.spectraenergy.com
- Proponent- Spectra Energy
- Plant will be located west of Dawson Creek near Bessborough
- Planned to be built in two stages, the first to be completed by 2011 and the second stage to be completed by 2013.
- The plant will be capable of producing 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day
Liquid Nitrogen Plant
Website: www.ferus.com
- Proponent- Ferus Incorporated.
- The plant will be located in Dawson Creek.
- It comes with a capital investment of $20 million.
- It is a state-of-the-art facility that will enable Ferus to meet the demands for liquid nitrogen in the area. The gas is used to stimulate production of natural gas from wells.
- The plant is currently under production and will be completed and fully operational by 2011
- UPDATE: Ferus has confirmed that it will be expanding its plant capacity for liquid nitrogen to 400 tonnes per day. The expansion will cost an extra $20 million and completed next year, after the completion of the original plant.
