Deep Panuke misses target

Nova Scotias second offshore natural gas project is off-schedule, again, after missing a goal to start delivering a steady flow of gas to marketby the end of summer.

Deep Paunke has been 14 years and $1 billion in the making.

Single Buoy Moorings, which built the field, is still testing the production platform.

The shallow field south of Sable Island has so far produced a small amount of natural gas and Encana, the operator of the field, says Single Buoy Moorings is continuing to ramp up toward full production. Thats expected to be 300 million cubic metres a day, about twice what now flows from the Sable project.

Deep Panuke has hit several bumps in the road, including an ongoing legal dispute between Encana and SBM over design changes to the offshore platform built in Abu Dhabi.

Two crews of about 40 people each are working around the clock to bring Deep Panuke on stream.

The price of natural gas remains low but getting into production would boost the Province's exports and contribute royalties.

The Deep Panuke project received regulatory approval in 2007 and was initially supposed to go into production by late 2010.