Here is the articleJan. 25, 2003
Natural gas drilling to begin in mid-February
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by NANCY MACPHEE, Journal Pioneer
CALGARY, Alta. — The drilling of natural gas exploration wells in Prince County could begin by mid-February, said John MacLeod, president of Rally Energy.
MacLeod, in a telephone interview Friday from his Calgary office, said a public information meeting will be held between 4-7 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Kensington Legion to help inform residents of the company's plans to excavate for natural gas.
"What we do is talk about what we are going to do and the types of things people should expect to see," he said.
The two sites selected are north and east of Kensington — in Irishtown and Seaview.
Last summer, approximately 2,000, two-inch wide nine-metre deep test holes, were dug along a 127-kilometre zigzagging line from Kensington to Wellington. During that process, a charge was placed in each hole and detonated. Shock waves from this explosion bounced off rock and went to seismic feeds and the data was recorded.
Approximately 600 permits had to be obtained by the company during testing. The seismic data was analyzed hired by a geophysicist hired by Rally Energy, who determined what sites would be viable areas to drill.
MacLeod said there are other sites where drilling could take place in the future, especially one area just west of Summerside.
He added the company initially reviewed seismic data collected by another company, which Rally Energy purchased, to determine what sites looked "prospective".
MacLeod said Rally will be filing all the necessary information with the government for permits within the coming week.
"They need to have some time to look at it. After that, we would hope to start drilling within a few days."
He said drilling equipment will be moved in at that time to the two areas, which measure approximately an acre each. The drilling will be on a surface measuring 150 metres by 150 metres. In addition to the drilling rig, trailers, tanks and generators will be moved to the site.
MacLeod said although initial test results look promising, his company won't know what exactly lies underground until the drilling begins.
"No matter what we do on the surface we have to drill a well and see what's down there."
MacLeod said Rally Energy will be the operating company. An on-site supervising company will be hired, possibly Union Drilling of the United States.
"They have two rigs out of Memramcook (New Brunswick). They have drilled for Meteor Creek and Corridor."
He said drilling, which is expected to take a month, will be a 24-hour-a-day operation. MacLeod added up to 25 people will be hired to take part in the exploration process.
In addition, auxiliary equipment operators will be hired to construct a road leading into the lease.
MacLeod said the job will also pump a substantial amount of money into the local economy, since the workers will be staying at area hotels and eating at local restaurants.
He said the drilling of each exploration well will cost Rally Energy approximately $1 million.
If there is a good flow of gas, said MacLeod, a period of extensive testing will be done to see if the well is viable.
"We have to determine how much each well would deliver and how much gas is in the reservoir. We need enough gas to justify making the investment," said MacLeod. "If those criteria are there, you should see more drilling."
If this is the case, he added, pipelines will be built from the areas to a central plant he said the province and Maritime Electric have been discussing building.
"The ideal thing would be for the province to build a line into the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline to the Island. That would be great for us. We could tie into that."
Rally Energy has spent close to $5 million on the project to date.
MacLeod said $3 million was spent on the land and acquisition of permits, $500,000 was spent on the purchase of the old seismic data and $1.3 million was spent to acquire the new seismic data.
Rally Energy has a 55 per cent investment in the project, with the other partners being Osprey Energy of Bridgewater, N.S., CMB Energy of Toronto, Ont., and Shannon International Energy In