Fort Liard (Oct 13/06) - There were no bids on land opened up for the rights to natural gas exploration in Fort Liard.

Shirley Maaskant, manager of regulatory and community affairs for Paramount Resources Limited - a company, along with other partners, that owns natural gas wells in the region - said she isn't sure why other companies weren't interested in the land.

But Maaskant does know why Paramount didn't put in a bid.

"Usually we're provided an opportunity to determine which lands we're interested in and would have nominated those lands," said Maaskant.

She said because the parcels of land were pre-selected and divided into smaller sections than the company is used to dealing with, Paramount decided to invest in other projects.

Another factor was the wants and needs of the Acho Dene Koe First Nation, said Maaskant.

"There was some uncertainty of the band's expectations," she said.

Nadine Barber, the manager of government and public affairs for Anadarko Petroleum Corporation - a company set to merge with Canadian Natural Resources at the end of the month and that drilled nine wells in hopes of creating an interconnected gas gathering system in Fort Liard- cited similar reasons companies didn't bid for land rights.

"The selected land wasn't as interesting as some areas around Fort Liard," said Barber.

She said opening up land for gas exploration is a good first step.

Barber said companies are likely to show more interest if land is opened up in the north and eastern regions of Fort Liard.

Grand Chief Herb Norwegian said he was surprised there were no bids on the land proposed by Acho Dene First Nation Chief Harry Deneron.

"I thought maybe people would be all over it," he said.

Norwegian said Deneron had spent time in Alberta since the other chiefs agreed to open the land at an annual general meeting in August, lobbying companies and presenting the plans himself.

"Harry put a lot of energy into it," he said.

Norwegian said he wasn't sure why there was no interest, but added there are many questions people in the Deh Cho need to find answers to in light of the situation.

"What is the big picture?" asked Norwegian.

He said this could have ramifications for residents of Jean Marie River who are also interested in opening up land for gas exploration.

Deneron could not be reached for comment.

Maaskant said there are unique challenges to operating the wells in Fort Liard, like minimizing water production and maximizing the amount of gas produced.

Paramount spent $67 million on the wells in Fort Liard, which have not produced as much gas as in past years.

With the investment came more of an increase in production in 2005 at its F-36 field to 50.7 million cubic metres from just 11.2 million cubic metres in 2004.

It's other Fort Liard fields - N-01 and K-29 - yielded 38.8 and 203.3 million cubic metres respectively.

The previous year 48.1 and 465.4 million cubic metres of gas was produced from the same two fields.

- with files from John Curran