Canada tests interest in Arctic lands

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary Correspondent

Canada’s Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Andy Mitchell has issued three calls for nominations across a wide swath of the Arctic. The call covers lands in the central Mackenzie Valley and the Beaufort Sea/Mackenzie Delta in the Northwest Territories and the Arctic Islands of Nunavut Territory.

Depending on the response by the deadline of Jan. 30, a call for bids could take place in February.

While the central Mackenzie Valley and Delta/Beaufort regions have attracted growing interest in recent years with the prospect of a Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline dangling before E&P companies, Nunavut’s High Arctic drew a blank three years ago.

The first call for nominations for oil and gas exploration rights since Nunavut was established in 1999 as a separate territory was given a pass.

Analysts blamed the region’s high drilling costs and remoteness from any planned infrastructure.

But the Arctic Islands of Nunavut hold a potential storehouse of riches, including the Sverdrup basin, where the National Energy Board has calculated potential reserves of up to 50 trillion cubic feet of gas based on results from 120 wells drilled during the 1970s.