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B.C. looks at seismic program in two basins
Don Whiteley Petroleum News Contributing Writer
On an attempt to kick-start oil and gas exploration activities in British Columbia’s Bowser and Nechako basins, the provincial government hopes to launch a joint industry-government partnership to conduct a major seismic program in 2004.
Seen as the next likely targets for a burgeoning oil and gas sector in the province, both the Nechako basin in west central British Columbia and the Bowser Basin in northwest British Columbia have seen relatively little activity.
“It’s under consideration right now,” said Mark Hayes, manager of petroleum resource geology in the Energy Ministry’s New Ventures Department. “We don’t have funding approved per se, but we do have funding approval in principle. What we’re doing is getting ready to go.”
More than 20 years ago, Canadian Hunter Explorations Ltd. drilled a handful of wildcat exploratory wells in the Nechako, but came away with very little to encourage further work. The region is covered with a volcanic layer that severely limited the quality of seismic data, but the British Columbia Energy Ministry is optimistic that technological advancements in seismic data collection and interpretation might provide some answers lacking in the earlier work.
Thirty years ago, Dome Petroleum drilled two wells in the Bowser basin northwest of Prince George, but abandoned the effort because the area appeared to be more natural gas prone, and gas prices were extremely low at the time. Current prices driving another look at basins But current gas and oil prices are high enough to warrant another serious look at these basins. Natural gas, in particular, is expected to remain at high levels for several years because of ever-growing demand and tight supply.
Adding to the desire for seismic in the Bowser basin is new field work that indicates the area may have significant potential for natural gas, and that the source rocks are not “cooked” as had been originally thought.
The provincial government is hoping to find private sector partners who are willing to put up some of the money for “spec” seismic work in return for a share of the returns when the data is marketed to the industry.
“We’re looking at matching some dollars, that’s one of the models,” Hayes said. “We’re looking currently for a company that does this for a living — spec seismic — we can partner up with them and put out an offering to industry for purchasing the data.”
The Bowser basin has moved to the top of British Columbia’s list of onshore resource plays, as evidenced by this new push to get some seismic work under way.
Recent geological work showed that the overcooking problem (as evidenced by the region’s numerous high grade coal deposits) was not widespread through the region. Oil and gas within the sedimentary rocks is likely still intact.
But more important, geologists identified a triangle zone that runs for as much as 130 kilometers along the eastern edge of the mountains in the Bowser basin. Triangle zones are known globally for being very prolific as oil and gas producers, much like Alberta’s Turner Valley play.
The Geological Survey of Canada in 1995 published a resource estimate for the Bowser, Sustut, and Whitehorse trough (to the north) that put the resource potential at 2.5 billion barrels of oil and 13.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. But that report was prepared well before the latest information was collected, and the Geological Survey is now in the process of revising those figures upward.
Geologists in the British Columbia Energy Ministry are now analyzing the results of more field work conducted last summer.
Hayes said he had hoped to have the new Geological Survey resource estimates by now, but a heavy workload has slowed things down somewhat.
“We should have some news by the end of this year,” he said, adding that he also needs to finalize approvals for the seismic program relatively quickly if funding is to be made available in the next fiscal year beginning April 1.
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