Devon Canada has a green light to drill the first natural gas exploration well in the Yukon Territory in two decades.
The Yukon government gave regulatory clearance for the well to be drilled in the Eagle Plain Basin in northern Yukon.
Trucks carrying the drilling rig moved up the Alaska Highway last month, and spud the well on Feb. 22.
Expected to reach a total depth of about 4,300 feet, the well is being drilled by Ensign Resource Service Group’s Rig 55, a Jackknife Double unit. It is expected to take about 40 days to drill.
There has been no commercial production from the basin, but the Geological Survey of Canada, in a report two years ago, raised the basin’s resource potential to 6 trillion cubic feet from 1 tcf. The survey is also updating its estimate of 2.3 tcf for Peel Plateau, east of Eagle Plain.
Both basins have been identified as possible supply sources for the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline.