Nova Scotia Open to Ending Fracking Ban

The government of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia is open to talking about ending the ban on fracking that has been in place for the last four years, the executive director of the petroleum branch of the Nova Scotia Department of Energy told a Vancouver audience May 14.

Speaking to the Canada Gas & LNG Conference, Sandy MacMullin said the fracking ban – in place since 2014 – permanently strands some 36 trillion ft³ of in-place natural gas resources.

The state of fracking technology, he said, is not a barrier to developing that gas resource – enough wells have been fracked over the last 60 years across North America to prove that there are no technical reasons why fracking can’t be done safely. It is, however, a social issue: the fracking ban is staunchly supported by certain segments of the public, and its possible removal will be hotly debated.

“The premier said in Houston if communities come forward, with the intention of seeing hydraulic fracturing take place, then government might consider it," MacMullin said. "However, there are no plans to change the moratorium right now - if a discussion does take place on that, it will be a social issues discussion, not a technical discussion."

Discussions into ending the ban and moving forward to develop Nova Scotia’s own natural gas resources is of growing importance, MacMullin said, given the fact that current offshore production developments – the ExxonMobil’s Sable Offshore Energy Project and Encana’s Deep Panuke project – are nearing the end of their lives.

And while any new gas production would still be several years removed from an end to the moratorium, development of Nova Scotia’s own onshore gas resources would be welcomed by either of the two LNG projects currently proposed for the province.