Canadian Superior Energy said Wednesday that it has signed a contract to use Rowan Companies’ Gorilla V super jack up rig, designed for harsh environment exploration and development drilling operations, to begin drilling its Mariner project offshore Nova Scotia near Sable Island beginning next month.

Mariner is located north of the eastern tip of Sable Island on the Scotian Shelf and is one of three major new projects that Canadian Superior has planned in the Atlantic. The first Mariner well, located 5.5 miles northwest of the Sable Offshore Energy Project’s Venture natural gas producing field, will be one of the deepest offshore wells drilled in Canada this year. It will be drilled on exploration license EL 2409 bought in November 2001 for C$15.5 million.

The Mariner block (EL 2409), on which three “world-class” prospects have been identified with current high-resolution seismic, encompasses a total area of 101,800 acres and directly offsets five significant discoveries near Sable Island including the 1.6 Tcf Venture natural gas field located about 290 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of Halifax. The Mariner well will be drilled to a total depth of 18,370 feet and will evaluate one of three large structures that have been identified directly off the Venture field.

In September, Canadian Superior and El Paso shot a targeted high-resolution 3D seismic survey on their Marquis Abenaki reef prospect. The Marquis blocks (EL 2401, 2402) are located 12.5 miles northwest of Sable Island and are directly on trend with EnCana’s Deep Panuke Abenaki reef natural gas discovery. Deep Panuke is 15.6 miles to the southwest of Marquis and has successfully tested several delineation wells, each with productive capacity in excess of 50 MMcf/d. EnCana is currently testing its recently drilled successful Margaree F-70 well on another Abenaki reef structure nearby.

Next year, Canadian Superior also will begin work on the Mayflower block (EL 2406), located 285 miles directly east of Boston, MA. Canadian Superior said the Mayflower, Marquis and Mariner Projects represent “world-class” opportunities, targeting several Tcf of natural gas.

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