Deep Panuke back in production after water forced shutdown
N.S. offshore gas platform down since September
Encana's offshore Nova Scotia natural gas project has gone back into production, less than a week after the company said water problems would require an extended shut down to fix.
The company notified the Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board that Deep Panuke resumed production on Nov. 16.
Neither Encana nor the regulator would say whether all four wells are producing natural gas.
"We wouldn't comment on the specifics of production at this stage," Encana spokeswoman Lori Maclean wrote to CBC News.
Last month Encana extended a planned maintenance shut down to deal with higher than expected levels of water coming up with natural gas being pumped from deep beneath the ocean floor 250 kilometres southeast of Halifax.
Last week Doug Suttles, Encana's president, said the water problem still needed fixing.
"Although we always expected the reservoir to produce water, recent levels were higher than we anticipated at this point in the productive life," Suttles told analysts.
"We plan to bring production back by the beginning of December," he said.
White elephant to cash cow
The billion-dollar project has gone from a white elephant to a cash cow for the company.
It was several hundred million dollars over budget and years behind schedule when it started producing natural gas in 2013. High gas prices last winter generated huge profits for Encana.
Deep Panuke generated $395 million in cash for Encana in the first quarter of 2014.
Suttles was asked whether the company "pulled too hard" on the reservoir last winter when it was generating huge returns.
"No, we actually didn’t produce the field any different last winter than we had planned to produce it," he replied.
Once back and fully running, Encana expects Deep Panuke to produce between 140 million to 180 million cubic feet per day.