Several media stories have resulted from concerns raised by a landowner near our operations at Weyburn who asserts that carbon dioxide (CO2) from our facility is leaking to the surface of their adjacent property. The Kerrs commissioned a soil gas study, conducted by a consultant company, Petro-Find, which suggests their concerns were valid. Based on numerous studies done by external experts as well as our own tests, we are confident that this is not the case. These studies include a report by renowned scientists from around the world for the International Energy Agency Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme (IEAGHG). The report concludes that the CO2 at Weyburn, which is injected nearly 1.5 km underground and is covered by several layers of cap rock, will remain underground.
We always take landowner concerns about our operations seriously and make every reasonable effort to address the issues. In this particular case, we have hired three external consultants to review the soil gas study that the landowner commissioned and we are currently awaiting their findings.
The study commissioned by the IEAGHG referenced above was conducted by the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC). The final phase of the study is currently underway. The study references Encana because at the time this study was conducted, our Weyburn operations were owned and operated by our predecessor company, Encana Corporation.
Today, the PTRC released its findings on the Petro-Find report (which claims that CO2 is leaking from the Weyburn oilfield onto land owned by the Kerrs) stating it has reached the conclusion that "there is no evidence in the Petro-Find report to support its claim that CO2 in soils of the Kerr property is clearly the anthropogenic CO2 injected into the Weyburn reservoir."
More detail is available on the PTRC website.
Updated: Jan. 19, 2011