The Nova Scotia Department of Energy has given approval to PetroWorth Resources to drill an oil well at the Lake Ainslie Block property, Cape Breton.
The company submitted an application for a drilling permit in September 2010, in order to drill an exploration well to a vertical depth of 1200-1500 m in total. The application excludes hydraulic fracturing and needed separate authorization from the Nova Scotia Departments of Environment and Energy.
The industrial approval application of the company was accepted by the Department of Environment in July 2011 and this application dealt with issues like groundwater monitoring and process waste management. This approval apparently paved the way for the company to go ahead with the drilling plans in Cape Breton.
The location of the planned well in West Lake Ainslie depends on the analysis of the recent seismic information obtained by PetroWorth in 2009, and on the drilling results of several historic wells at the region. Oil is obtained at shallow depths in three sand packages in the majority of these wells. In fact a well that was drilled during 1874 has flowed and barrelled oil to the U.S for a profitable sale. The depth of the planned well will be a minimum 800 m than the former wells. The oil-bearing near surface zones will additionally focus the Strathlorne formation’s deep structure.
Currently, the company will make an effort to hire a drilling rig. It has the time to drill this oil well until July, 2012.