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Canadian Arctic pipeline route battle continues Northwest Territories have enlisted bank support, Yukon plans second oil and natural gas land sale Gary Park PNA Canadian Contributing Correspondent
Canada’s Battle of the Territories to capture the primary route for any Arctic natural gas pipeline continues to intensify.
Northwest Territories aboriginals have enlisted the Bank of Montreal, one of Canada’s five largest banks, to help them achieve a lead role should a pipeline be built down the Mackenzie River Valley.
Meanwhile, the Yukon Territory, although trailing the Northwest Territories in gas exploration and development, is making every effort to establish itself as more than just a candidate for a pipeline corridor.
Under recently elected Premier Pat Duncan, the Yukon will soon launch its second oil and natural gas land sale in the past year. Depending on the industry’s response to a call for nominations, a sale could take place late this year or early 2001.
Duncan is convinced the long-established Alaska Natural Gas Transmission System, proposed to extend across Alaska and the Yukon, is the only route that makes any sense. Yukon needs gas discoveries But she concedes the Yukon needs major gas discoveries to both supplement a pipeline and establish itself as a serious gas-producing region.
The interest so far has been confined to limited exploration by Calgary-based junior Northern Cross (Yukon) Ltd. and a C$20.4 million bid last November by a subsidiary of Anderson Exploration Ltd. for two parcels covering 800 square kilometers in the Eagle Plain Basin of north-central Yukon.
“With the steadily increasing demand and depleting southern supplies, northern gas will be needed within the next five to 10 years and we know there is excellent potential for natural gas development in the Yukon,” she said.
Northwest Territories dispute over pipeline control The Northwest Territories, with 12 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves in the Delta alone, has a clear advantage if producers opt for a Canada-only pipeline, but the Northwest Territories is embroiled in its own controversy over control of the shipping system.
Harry Deneron, a former chief of the Acho Dene Koe in Fort Liard, Northwest Territories, said the partnership with the Bank of Montreal is a first step to make pipeline ownership a reality.
“We are not going to roll the red carpet down the Mackenzie for somebody else to build a pipeline and own it,” he said.
Ron Jamieson, senior vice-president of the Bank of Montreal’s aboriginal banking unit, said he was confident there would be financial backing for a joint venture between the aboriginals and an established pipeline company.
The bank could “underwrite the thing, take it to the marketplace and syndicate it among umpteen banks,” Jamieson said.
Whereas, if the natives simply allowed “XYZ pipeline to come in and build the pipeline, they wind up with a minor equity position and a few pick-and-shovel jobs.”
Industry officials have been quietly cautioning Northwest Territories Natives against making unreasonable demands, warning that if they go too far gas producers may cast their lot with the ANGTS alternative.
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