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DEH CHO
It will be another slow winter season for Paramount Resources Ltd. in the Cameron Hills area and prospects for the region are unlikely to change soon, according to a company official.

"I think we are in the position where we are winding things down," said Lloyd Doyle, a corporate operating officer with Paramount.

The company has no plans to do drilling or exploration work in its Cameron Hills project area, which is located in the southeastern corner of the Deh Cho, between Tathlina Lake and the NWT-Alberta border, this winter. The company hasn't drilled any new wells in Cameron Hills in two years. The last drill, a horizontal drill for oil, didn't produce the hydrocarbon volumes the company was expecting, said Doyle.

"The results weren't encouraging," he said.

Paramount has lost economic momentum in the area. One of the contributing factors is the regulatory system in the territory, Doyle said.

A major roadblock in operations is the fact much of the work Paramount can do elsewhere requires and environmental assessment in the NWT. In the meantime, existing wells are losing production while the company waits, he said.

In 2008, Paramount offered the Cameron Hills project up for sale. The company is no longer actively marketing the project, but would consider any reasonable offers, said Doyle. There is, however, a limited number of companies that would consider owning it.

The project isn't large enough for a major company, and a junior company would be put off by the winter access, short season, high costs and regulatory and reporting requirements, he said.

"It's not as predictable or as friendly as other areas."

As an example, Doyle points to a case approximately five years ago when Paramount tried to get a permit to do seismic work. The application was sent for an environmental impact assessment.

When the permit was finally awarded, approximately three years later, modifications had been imposed. Those modifications made it physically impossible for Paramount to do the seismic work it wanted, he said.

Despite the difficulties, Doyle said the company isn't writing off Cameron Hills.

Cameron Hills still has potential because there is a lot of land that hasn't been fully explored, but it would take the identification of multiple wells capable of producing either oil or natural gas in economic qualities to turn the tide, he said. Three of the natural gas and four of the oil wells that are tied into the gathering system in the area are currently producing.

"Right now we are pretty much breaking even," said Doyle.

If commodity prices rose from their current levels Paramount would reassess its position, he said.

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