Yellowknife (Jan 15/07) - Despite a slow start to the season and slumping commodity prices, there will be oil and gas drilling in the NWT this winter.

Chevron Canada and BP Canada will drill two wells in the Beaufort-Delta, and Paramount Resources is slated to drill in the Cameron Hills this winter.

Paramount Resources received authorization to drill its Cameron Hills L-40 site on Jan. 2, said Clay Riddell, chairman and chief executive officer with the company.

Work should begin in the very near future, he said.

"The plan is to drill until the end of March, but it's all weather dependent," he said.

Paramount expects to employ 20 workers during the project and there should some related service contracts out there for Northern firms, too, he said.

No drilling related employment opportunities have come up yet for workers in nearby Kakisa, said Chief Lloyd Chicot of the Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation.

"Most of the work has gone to larger communities," he said.

Residents of the community have opted for other economic opportunities that provide more long-term work rather than seasonal drilling positions, he said.

The First Nation group isn't against drilling, providing it's environmentally sound, he said.

Paramount shareholders also recently voted to create a spin out company, which will take control of the company's assets around Colville Lake and those in the Beaufort-Delta currently owned by the Chevron Canada, said Riddell.

"At a time when others are losing interest, we want to increase our interest in the North," he said.

Before Paramount's new venture, MGM Energy Corp., becomes the primary operator of Chevron Canada's Delta properties, Chevron and BP Canada will drill more wells on the land.

AkitaEqutak Drilling is responsible for sinking the holes and it will be its first land-based drilling in the Delta after a one year break, said John Pahl, Akita vice-president of marketing North.

The two wells, Kumac and Unipkat, are slated to be drilled beginning in January just west of Tuktoyaktuk and Camp Farewell, he said.

Operations should run for two months and the company expects to employ up to 20 Northerners, he said. "We want to put to work as many Northern workers as possible," he said.

The rig that will be used is currently being trucked to Inuvik from Grande Prairie via the Dempster Highway, added Pahl.