A Halifax company doing exploratory drilling for natural gas on P.E.I. has recently halted its operations in Cavendish.
Corridor Resources Inc. began experiencing what it has termed ‘mechanical difficulties' while using a technology called fraccing to explore the Island's potential for natural gas production.
Fraccing is a process of hydraulically fracturing a reservoir formation to enhance the rate of gas flow from the well.
Corridor's president Norm Miller said they won't know exactly what's wrong until they get in and look at the well.
"We're going to do some surveying of the casing and the well to see what those difficulties are and what the remedies are."
But the company's fraccing operations would have been halted regardless, as the equipment is needed in Alberta.
Miller said all fraccing by the company has stopped in P.E.I. and in New Brunswick until the spring.
"The equipment had to get back. It's in high demand out west during the wintertime. So it's been sent to do work out there," Miller said. "But we plan to return to the Green Gables area in the spring."
The equipment is being shipped to Alberta this weekend.
In the meantime, the company plans to focus on finding out what's wrong at the Cavendish well.
"We're going to re-enter that wellbore and take a look and see what the mechanical problem is - then we'll have a good idea."
Natural gas has been found on P.E.I. but has never successfully been produced at commercial rates.
So far about 70 metres of sand thickness has the potential to hold and produce natural gas in the Cavendish well. This makes it "interesting enough to take the next step and try to test it and see if we can flow it," Miller said.
The company should know within the next month or so what the technical problems at the Green Gables well are and how to fix them, Miller said.
