Jack Danylchuk
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 25/05) - Imperial Oil Ltd. is ready to start public hearings on the proposed $7 billion Mackenzie Gas Project, the company announced Wednesday.

Business and political leaders in Yellowknife welcomed the news, but see the announcement as another step in a long process.

"That's good news," Premier Joe Handley said as the territorial government released a letter "offering strong encouragement to industry to proceed to the public hearing phase."

Public hearings before the National Energy Board and the Joint Review Panel are expected to begin in January with recommendations to come early in 2007.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the announcement "provides some certainty for the next little while."

Van Tighem expects the hearings to create a buzz of excitement in Yellowknife, but most of the impact of the project will be felt in communities along the pipeline route.

Marino Casebeer, executive director of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce, said the news is positive. "There was some risk the project would be dropped, but there is still a long way to go."

The chamber is looking for more information on the project, Casebeer said, but expects there will be opportunities for expediters and service supply companies.

Randy Broiles, Imperial's senior vice-president, said "sufficient progress has been made in all key areas - clarity of the regulatory process, access and benefits agreements, and fiscal framework - for us to proceed."

Broiles cautioned that the decision to go to public hearings isn't a signal that the partners will proceed with the project - already more than a year behind schedule.

The final decision depends on a host of issues, including regulatory approvals, terms of access and benefits agreements, royalties and taxes, gas markets and project costs, Broiles said.

In a letter to the regulatory bodies, Imperial said it expects "access and benefits agreements with Northern aboriginal groups will be fully ratified and executed in December 2005."

"In addition, benefits and access agreement negotiations for the Deh Cho Territory continue," Sandy Martin, manager of regulatory affairs, said in the letter.