Fort Good Hope (Sep 18/06) - Kodiak Energy is planning seismic and drilling activity along the Mackenzie River to earn it a stake in the 200,000-acre Little Chicago exploration property near Fort Good Hope.

"This winter's a seismic play for us," said Mark Hlady, Kodiak Energy chief executive officer. "Next year we're hoping to be drilling."

Kodiak plans to spend $5 million on two-dimensional seismic work by June 30, 2007, which will get the company a 12.5 per cent interest in the property.

By drilling two wells, Kodiak can increase its share in the property to 34.5 per cent. Over the next four to six weeks, he said the company will be getting in touch with people around the North to figure out what needs to happen to get the project rolling.

"We're still finding out who's who, and who we need to talk to," said Hlady, adding the company plans to hire as many Northerners as it can to work the property.

"Hiring locally is what it's all about, it is cheaper than flying people in and out from Alberta."

News of Kodiak's plans was welcomed in Fort Good Hope where Chief Ron Pierrot said, while people will want to ensure all environmental concerns are first addressed, the activity and jobs will be good for the community.

"Seismic is a big opportunity for us," he said. "Especially since we have a stake in the aircraft companies - both rotor and fixed-wing."

In Fort Good Hope, the Yamoga Land Corp. has partnerships with North-Wright Airways and Great Slave Helicopters while the Metis Land Corp. has a deal with Canadian Helicopters, said Pierrot.

Currently controlled by Thunder Energy, the property most recently received interest from Devlan Exploration when it drilled on the west bank of the river in the fall of 2004. Over the years, however, Little Chicago has attracted attention from so many explorers Pierrot has lost count of them.

"There's a wellhead about 20 miles south of where Devlan was operating that dates back to the mid-1960s," he added. "I couldn't tell you who drilled it."

According to the latest resource estimates Kodiak received when it signed the option agreement, Hlady said the property could contain as many as one billion barrels of oil and in excess of 600 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

He was quick to add those numbers may have been bumped up a bit, "for PR purposes," by a previous operator of the property.