Bilateral scientific cooperation further enhances our countries’ safe records of shale gas and tight oil development
On November 5, 2014, the Honourable Greg Rickford, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, and Hirobumi Kawano, President of the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) for bilateral technical cooperation on unconventional oil and gas technology.
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) currently conducts geoscience research to better assess the potential of Canada’s shale gas and tight oil energy resources and to improve our understanding of formation processes in support of land use decisions. Collaboration with JOGMEC through the MOC will provide NRCan with access to critical core samples and leading-edge geoscience and geo-engineering data, as well as laboratory facilities and equipment. In turn, JOGMEC will benefit from access to NRCan’s leading-edge organic geochemistry laboratory capacity along with its shale gas and tight oil geoscience expertise.
The MOC will also position NRCan as a key participant in the largest unconventional shale gas research project in Canada: the Cutbank Ridge Partnership (CRP) formed between Encana, Canada’s largest natural gas producer, and Japan’s Mitsubishi. The project will focus on the Montney Formation in northeast British Columbia.
In support of the partnership, JOGMEC provides financial assistance and geoscience expertise to Mitsubishi. A CRP-specific agreement under the MOC will allow for free technical exchange between all CRP parties, further advancing NRCan’s research objectives.
NRCan has successfully collaborated with JOGMEC since the 1990s on research that has yielded important results for Canada, Japan and the scientific community at large.
Alexandra Lemieux
Press Secretary
Office of Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources
613-996-2007
Media Relations
Natural Resources Canada
Ottawa
613-992-4447
Mon.–Fri., 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. EST
Telephone: 613-995-0947
E-mail: questions@nrcan.gc.ca
Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan)
