Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

FORT SIMPSON (July 30/99) - Liard Valley Chief Harry Deneron is eager to get moving on the proposed natural gas discoveries in Fort Liard, but says delays in the project and the inaction of one of the players is slowing down the process.

Deneron said Ranger Oil Ltd. has not been at all forthcoming in their plans to build a pipeline south through the Liard Valley.

Fort Liard could use the boost to the economy, Deneron said.

"(The proposed gas project) will be good for the community," Deneron said. "We've encouraged them to explore and get in there and find it, and get back to us, but they haven't -- unlike Chevron and Paramount."

Chevron and Paramount also have major finds in the valley and they've worked closely with the band throughout the exploration, Deneron said.

"They've been upfront about their discovery and where they going on a consistent basis: Ranger -- nothing."

Shane Parrish, general manager of the Liard Valley Band Development Corp., agrees with Chief Deneron, saying the Calgary company has been slow to respond.

"We don't feel that they have communicated with the band as well as they should," Parrish said. "There are a lot of questions and Ranger hasn't done a very good job of answering them. Others have done better."

The project has been further delayed as it undergoes an environmental assessment by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board (MVERB). Parrish said that Ranger has complicated the process by changing the route of the proposed pipeline.

"The original Ranger application was going to go through the mountain and now they're going around it," Parrish explained.

The other fossil fuel companies have been quite forthcoming in outlining potential benefits to the community, Parrish said, but so far Ranger has not committed to anything.

"With Ranger we don't have a benefits agreement or plan for the pipeline construction and that's one of the problems," Parrish said. "Although they have proposed a few things, we don't have anything in writing -- there's nothing there."

Parrish was uncertain as to why the company has been elusive, noting that the company has expressed concern about moving quickly on the development.

"These guys are highly motivated to get this project online," Parrish said. "There's a lot of money at stake. They need that cash flow from this gas."

To get the gas out of the ground and flowing down the pipe, Parrish said all concerned will have to have an open dialogue.

"We all have to work together to make this thing a success," he said.

As the project goes before the review board, Parrish is unsure of how long it will take or what will happen next.

"It's a learning process for everybody, including the board," he said. "Until somebody does it, nobody will know."

Gordon Stewart, environmental assessment officer for the MVERB, said the board does not anticipate any problems in the development or Ranger Oil.

"It's early in the process and I don't expect any problems with them," Stewart said. "We certainly advise industry, when they do come calling, that they really do get out and do consultation in the communities."

One of the stipulations for development is an open public discourse to any development, Stewart said.

"We also do advise them that our board wants to see demonstrated proof of consultation," he said, "who they talked to and how the public's concern has been integrated into the project's design."

The Ranger assessment is coupled with the Chevron project, he said and that may complicate the process.

"It's a combined assessment of (the Ranger and Chevron projects) because the amendment is taking into consideration the Chevron wells too," Stewart said. "(Paramount) has a separate development and I don't believe they've filed anything yet."

Paramount's Maxhamish facility and pipeline will travel south to a plant in Fort Nelson and because they are on the other side of the river, Stewart said they may require a separate pipeline.

Mike Squire is the chief financial officer for Ranger Oil Ltd. in Calgary, Alta. He said the company needs to do more drilling to be certain of just how big this discovery is.

"We've re-entered the discovery well at the P-66 well and we hope to carry out some more production testing on that well in mid-August," Squire said. "We're drilling a delineation well, N-61, to try to establish more reserves in the feature discovered by the P-66 well.

"We found gas and we were able to flow that well at 16 million cubic feet a day," he said. "So we know we have a gas well, but there is a great deal of uncertainty as to the size of the reserves and that's why we've re-entered the well, to carry out some additional testing."

The process is taking longer than Ranger had hoped, Squire said, but without determining the size of the reserve, they cannot go ahead.

"We need more information before we can optimize the design and development of the facilities," he said. "The potential range for reserves is very large indeed, but until more drilling is done in the area, those numbers are pure speculation.

"We'd hoped to be able to get a pipeline built this winter so that we could tie in the successful wells in the spring of next year," he said. "But I don't know if that's going to be possible or not. Obviously, there are a lot of steps to go through."

"It's by no means clear that schedule is going to be possible to achieve," he said.