Yellowknife (Jan 19/05) - The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce is looking at setting up an oil and gas conference.

Jeremy Ball, co-chairman of the business development committee with the Chamber, said such a gathering could happen as soon as October.

If there's a conflict with the other industry events in the North, Ball said, "we'll change the date."

Ball said just as "Edmonton is the gateway to Yellowknife, Yellowknife is the gateway to the North."

As a result, development of the Mackenzie Gas Project will mean a boom for Yellowknife businesses, he said.

The chamber is anxious to show its members how the pipeline might benefit them, he said.

"This is at the early stages. It's not just a ribbon of steel, it's a ribbon of stainless steel," said Ball, referring to comments made by Canadian Arctic Resource's executive research director Kevin O'Reilly last week in Yellowknifer.

The chamber wants it clarified that the pipeline will benefit Northern communities, said Ball.

O'Reilly said there are a great many things to consider when you're talking about a project as big as the pipeline would be.

"We never said there wouldn't be some economic benefits for some people in the North," he responded. "At the same time you need to look at the social and environmental costs of a project like this."