Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 19/05) - Devon Canada Corporation is one of the few oil and gas companies drilling in the Beaufort-Delta region this winter.

In late December, Devon will drill its first of four exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea. As part of its nine-year licence agreement, Devon must drill its first well before August 2006, with subsequent wells each year after.

The company is hoping to find large amounts of natural gas during the approximately 80 days of drilling. As one well costs an estimated $60 million to drill, the results from this first one will need to show "anchor field types of numbers," for the drilling program to continue next year, said Michel Scott, vice-president of government and public affairs.

It is estimated that there is almost six trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the three anchor fields of the proposed Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Initial results from the multi-year, 3-D seismic program completed in 2003 show potential, but final analysis will come after drilling, he said.

Even with positive results, the company will also need to see that there will be an opportunity to bring the gas to market in a timely manner, he said.

"The delays in the pipeline haven't caught up to our window yet," he said. "We would be looking at a timeframe of 2012-2015."

Located in Mackenzie Bay, northwest of Tuktoyaktuk, drilling will take place from a modified crude oil tanker welded to a submersible barge.

The ship was towed from Herschel Island where it was stored for a number of years. The nearly 100,000 tonne contraption, which has been used to drill in the Beaufort Sea before, has reinforced steel and concrete walls to withstand extreme ice pressures.

This will enable a four-month drilling period, rather than a two-month window of drilling from an "ice island."

No contaminants

"Ice thicknesses in the area have changed considerably in the past 12 years," Scott said.

Lloyd Gruben of Tuktoyaktuk is one of approximately 80 crew members on the ship at any one time. As an environmental monitor with the Inuvialuit Land Administration, Gruben ensures all waste products are monitored and documented and that no contaminates enter the environment.

Rex Cockney, also of Tuktoyaktuk, worked with the oil industry in the 1970s. He is working with Devon this winter.

"I saw the destruction (caused by oil exploration) in the 1970s and 1980s," he said. "We're the ones who are going to have to live with it if anything happens. If we have concerns, it is important for us to be involved. That's why I am here - to make sure when they go back south that this place is left clean."