The buzz on Greg Noval says he’s the oilpatch equivalent of Bad Bad Leroy Brown. He’s been portrayed as a top-leaser, a bad actor, a distrustful cad without a friend in the world.

But glide up to the Canterra Tower’s 33rd floor, and you’ll find nobody who fits the description.

Step into Canadian Superior Energy Inc., and meet a guy who’s in love with all humankind. Noval, the company president, feels like giving folding money to panhandlers. He feels like frolicking through alpine meadows, tossing flowers in the air.

“Yep, we’re all in a great mood,” he said.

Greg Noval

If he looks slightly wired, blame the adrenalin rushes. The bags beneath his eyes come from sleepless nights, counting the profits he plans to coax from the Scotian Shelf, one of the richest natural gas basins in North America.

Last week, Canadian Superior trumpeted “record” year-end results, with revenues in 2000 exceeding those of the previous year by 83 per cent.

Add that to Superior’s intention to quickly tap into mighty natural gas fields about 20 kilometres northwest of Sable Island, off the Nova Scotia coast, and you understand why Noval is feeling so giddy.

A rancher whose boot heels are planted deep in the Alberta sod, Noval is suddenly smitten with the salt sea, and the treasures buried therein. Granted, he may not be the oilpatch’s most beloved figure. But he does have one friend, and he’s worth a tanker loaded with the fair-weather variety.

His name is Don Axford, a brilliant octogenarian, who is the ultimate authority on the Scotian Shelf.

Axford walked into Noval’s office three years ago. And when he walked out, visions of El Dorado danced in Noval’s brain.

“I’d known of Don for years — he’s a legend — but I really got to know him when he brought the idea of teaming up to Canadian 88, which I was running at the time,” Noval recapped.

A former Mobil Canada exploration chief, Axford was among the first to scout the Shelf more than 40 years ago. He’s credited with discovering the motherlode off Sable Island.

When he met Noval, he had recently completed a thorough three-dimensional seismic analysis of the entire Sable Island basin, a “roadmap” of extraordinary depth, detail and value.

Axford had done the work for an American company. As his reward, he got the seismic and “some rights, and helped us roll them into our company on the cheap,” Noval said.

Which explains why The Legend and Bad Leroy Brown are in cahoots, rubbing shoulders with PanCanadian, ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron in a high-rent neighbourhood.

Corporate analysts such as Goldman Sachs and Ziff Energy Group say the Scotian Shelf is a genuine monster.

“The deeper targets are like those in the North Sea, offshore Angola and off Brazil — that’s the type of world-class play that’s about to break off Nova Scotia,” Noval explained.

Axford, now the chairman of Canadian Superior, brought his rare expertise to the table. After bringing his offshore vision to Noval’s office, the partners were able to secure permits and jockey themselves into prime drilling position.

Noval’s job? Get the money. He succeeded in fine style, which suggests he may have more friends than some might think.

“I raised $17 million last fall — that’s a lot of money for a company that had a market capitalization of about $10 million a year ago,” he said.

As he warmed to the subject, Noval listed the beauty parts of the Sable Island play.

First, it enjoys proximity to pipelines with the capacity to funnel 950 million cubic feet a day to fuel-hungry markets in the northeastern U.S.

And, of course, runaway gas prices aren’t expected to drop anytime soon.

Another bonus: Superior’s permits are for shallow-water areas on the Abenaki Reef, which Axford is convinced will yield as much gas as deeper plays.

Setting up a rig in shallower depths costs about $20 million, compared to $50 million for deep-water wells.

Superior intends to drill as early as September, following completion of regulatory and environmental studies.

Once things start rolling, Superior will put up a third of the money, already in the bank, for its multi-well drilling program, and partner up for the balance to “spread the risk,” said Noval.

“This one,” chortled Bad Bad Leroy Brown, “is an easy sell.”