Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

Fort Liard (Oct 23/00) - A bizarre production miscalculation for Purcell Energy turned out to be less about water and more about extra natural gas.

In September, Calgary-based Purcell halted trading of its stock on the Toronto Stock Exchange to figure out why they were pumping so much water out of in the K-29 well near Fort Liard.

A partner with Chevron, which operates the well, Purcell's share price took a 30 per cent nosedive.

It turned out K-29 was actually producing 85 million cubic feet of natural gas daily instead of the expected 60 million cubic feet. More gas meant more water.

That well -- expected to peak at 75 million cubic feet per day -- producing 85 million cubic feet per day is astounding, said Shane Parrish, general manager of the Acho Dene Koe band owned ADK Holdings in Fort Liard.

Chevron said the gas production discrepancy was discovered Oct. 3 and as a result volume was reduced to 60 million cubic feet per day.

When gas flow was reduced, water volume fell. Chevron added it is investigating ways to safeguard against similar errors.

Purcell's shares have since recovered. On Sept. 21, Purcell closed at $2.85, down from $3.80 two weeks earlier. Last Wednesday, Purcell closed at $3.70.

As for the other natural gas activity near Fort Liard, Parrish said the M-25 well, drilled by Chevron and partners, could be flowing gas in a few weeks.

Forest Oil is about half-way done drilling a deep well near K-29 and Paramount Resources has commenced drilling its I-02 well just south of Fort Liard.

Forest Oil and Paramount are expected to drill other locations near Fort Liard this winter, Parrish added.

It was expected winter 2000-01 activity would be down from last year but it now appears activity levels will be higher than originally thought.

"There is concern (though) about the lack of skilled workers in the NWT. We've had a hard time finding skilled workers," said Parrish.

"We're looking for resumes, to add to our worker database."