Devon teams with Shell to drill Mackenzie Delta well

Ice road under construction for Itiginkpak F-29 well north of Inuvik; follow-up well possible two miles to north

Gary Park

PNA Canadian Correspondent

Devon Energy Corp. and Shell Canada Ltd. have formed a new partnership to drill a natural gas exploration well on the Mackenzie Delta, giving further impetus to the pace of activity in the Canadian Arctic this winter.

Devon announced Jan. 23 that it owns a 40 percent interest and will operate the Itiginkpak F-29 well, about 17 miles northwest of Inuvik in the Northwest Territories.

Construction of an ice road and lease site is under way and drilling is scheduled to start this month.

Depending on the results of F-29, a follow-up well could be drilled two miles to the north, with Shell Canada holding an option to participate.

John Richels, president of Devon Canada Corp., said in a statement that his company welcomed the agreement with Shell Canada.

“This project provides us with a great opportunity to utilize Devon’s established infrastructure, field personnel and access to local services,” he said.

Devon and Petro-Canada had already announced their intention to drill another Delta well, Nuna I-30, 56 miles northeast of Inuvik on Petro-Canada operated lands — one of three wells they drilled last winter.

Nuna I-30 is scheduled to start drilling in early February and is on trend with last winter’s Tuk M-18 well, which the two companies said had estimated reserves of 200 billion to 300 billion cubic feet and sustained deliverability of 60 million to 80 million cubic feet per day.

Two major Delta groups

Shell Canada is one of four companies in the Mackenzie Delta Producers Group, which is the driving force in developing plans to tap 5.8 trillion cubic feet of estimated marketable reserves and build a pipeline along the Mackenzie Valley.

It is 30 years since Shell Canada made its 100-percent-owned Niglintgak discovery on the Delta, with estimated marketable reserves of 1 trillion cubic feet.

Devon is one of seven members of the Mackenzie Delta Explorers Group, which is being heavily counted on to make new discoveries to support a possible one-third aboriginal equity stake in a Mackenzie Valley pipeline, or volumes of 400 million to 500 million cubic feet per day.