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INUVIK - It's looking like a slow winter for NWT oil and gas exploration.

Of all the usual suspects - MGM Energy Corp., Kodiak Energy Inc., Husky Energy Inc. and Petro-Canada - only MGM is currently active in the territory, according to Gary Bunio, vice-president of exploration for MGM.

Pictured here is one of three wells drilled by MGM Energy last year near the shore of the Beaufort Sea. The company is drilling the same number of wells this year, but no other regulars in the industry are drilling, according to MGM vice-president of operations Gary Bunio. - NNSL file photo

"We're drilling now," said Bunio. "I don't know of anyone else that is currently drilling in the Northwest Territories."

The global economic crisis partly accounts for the slowdown, he said.

"Some of it is the credit crisis that's going on right now," he said. "With the tightening of credit, the ability to raise money for small companies is very difficult. So a number of companies have been forced to scale back. In fact, almost every company."

Bucking the trend, MGM began setting up the first of three planned wells north of Inuvik on Dec. 15, commencing drilling on Christmas Day.

The company originally planned on drilling four wells but ultimately decided on three, eliminating the less attractive of its prospects from the lineup.

The third well is expected to be complete by the end of March, said Bunio.

While MGM is employing the same number of people as last year - approximately 200 - the elimination of one well means there's less work to go around this year, he said.

"We're using them for less time," he said.

Paul Clarke, operations manager for Arctic Oil and Gas Services (AOGS), which caters oil and gas exploration camps and is currently servicing MGM, said overall business in the sector is down this year. Seventy per cent of the company's annual business is done with the exploration industry.

"We had more rigs on the go last year, so it's a bit quieter for us," said Clarke. "We're not as busy."

MGM is the only company AOGS is currently working for, added Clarke.

After drilling two wells near Tulita last year, Husky Energy announced it would sit this winter out. Similarly, Petro-Canada - whose Kwijika well near Deline turned out dry - said it would not be returning to the area this year.

Last fall, Kodiak Energy announced the intention of its subsidiary, Kodiak Petroleum, to drill two prospective oil targets on its Little Chicago site, located between Fort Good Hope and Tsiigehtchic. But according to Bunio, Kodiak has halted those plans after failing to raise cash for the project.

Repeated calls to Bill Tighe, CEO of Kodiak, and Glenn Watt, vice-president of operations, were unanswered as of press time.

Bunio said one thing that could reinvigorate the industry is the completion of the Joint Review Panel (JRP)'s report on the Mackenzie Gas Project.

After many delays, the report is currently slated for completion in December, but Bunio said he is encouraged by news that two of the bodies that originally formed the JRP - the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Review Board and the Inuvialuit Game Council - are now pressuring the JRP to come to a decision this March.

"The request is reasonable," said Bunio. "The JRP has to accept some of the fluff and angst that has been going on and move the regulatory process ahead."