INUVIK - MGM Energy, which drilled three gas wells north of Inuvik this year, has scrapped plans to drill on two Inuvialuit-owned blocks north of the community this winter, said Gary Bunio, chief operating officer for the company.

The company's decision makes it official: it's going to be a slow winter in Inuvik, with no oil and gas companies announcing plans to do work in the Delta.

For its part, MGM is waiting on the release of the Joint Review Panel (JRP)'s report on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Mackenzie Gas Project, due this month, said Bunio.

"If you go back to the ... amendment to the agreement that set up the JRP, originally their deadline was to have it done by the end of 2009, which we're coming up on very quickly," said Bunio.

"No one's told me that it's going to be done by that time, but I've had several people say they've heard from friends of cousins and second brothers-in-law that they haven't heard that it's not going to be done by then."

Brian Chambers, executive director of the Northern Gas Project Secretariat, which was established to assist agencies like the JRP with the review process, said he's received no indication from the panel that the report won't be ready this month.

The secretariat will issue a public notice a week prior to the report's release saying where people can obtain a copy. The report will remain sealed until release day, said Chambers.