Thank you very much for the opportunity to appear here this morning.
I think most of you are aware that both our chair and I appeared before this committee back on May 25. Today, I'd like to take the opportunity, especially for new members of the committee, to provide a brief update of what was stated previously, and then move on to provide the committee with an update on other relevant information on developments since that time.
Since the drilling of the first exploration well in 1967, there have been a total of 207 wells drilled to date in the Nova Scotia offshore area. During this time, there have been two producing projects brought on stream, with a third under development. At present there is no drilling activity taking place in the Nova Scotia offshore area, nor is there any drilling being proposed in the near term.
The Sable offshore energy project, which is operated by Exxon Mobil, is the only currently operating project within our jurisdiction. It involves the production of natural gas from five separate fields in shallow water about 225 kilometres off the east coast of Nova Scotia. Production from this project began in December 1999 and is expected to continue well into this decade.