Petroleum Resource Potential of the Mackenzie Corridor, Canada: Conceivable Linkages with the Proposed Mackenzie Valley Natural Gas Pipeline

Peter Hannigan, David Morrow, and Bernard MacLean
Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, AB, Canada.

The Mackenzie Corridor, an area along the proposed route of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, constitutes a significant petroleum frontier province in Canada’s north. The Geological Survey of Canada has recently completed its first comprehensive exploration play-based quantitative petroleum assessment analysis of the region, the results of which are the subject of this presentation.

Objectives

Canada’s northern mainland basin is separable into two distinct geological terrane-types: the relatively undeformed platform succession underlying the plains area of Northwest Territories (the Interior Platform) and the deformed fold and thrust belt of the Cordillera in western Northwest Territories and eastern Yukon (the Northern Foreland Belt). A total of 37 oil and gas mature, immature and conceptual exploration plays have been defined and mapped in the study area, which extends from the 60th parallel, northward to, but not including, the Mackenzie Delta.

Procedure

All plays were defined on the basis of reservoir or reservoirs in which oil and/or natural gas were expected to accumulate. All aspects of the hydrocarbon system affecting each play such as source, seal, thermal maturity, trap-style, timing and exploration risks were also defined. Oil and gas play maps were then constructed to define the limits of preserved petroleum accumulations. Once the play maps were completed, compilation of all relevant petroleum data needed to perform volumetric probabilistic analyses for immature and conceptual plays and discovery process techniques for mature plays was undertaken. Probabilistic statistical analyses produced in-place play potential volumes, individual undiscovered pool size estimates, and the number of pools expected to occur in each play. Matching techniques were used to determine the ranks of discovered pool sizes to individual pool size volumes.

Results

The probabilistic assessment results of total oil and gas potential (produced and remaining) for all sedimentary strata in the Mackenzie Corridor of Canada are in-place mean volumes of 6624 MMBO of oil and 77 Tcf of gas. Although discovered reserves are substantial in the Mackenzie Corridor region, remaining resource potential is significant as exemplified by the prediction of 8 oil pools greater in size than 100 MMBO and 11 gas pools greater than 250 BCF.

Conclusions

Sufficient data was available in the majority of 37 defined plays established throughout the stratigraphic column from Proterozoic to Cretaceous age to predict their oil and gas endowment. This major study will provide important information for stakeholders involved in the proposed construction of the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline with respect to petroleum potential adjacent or proximal to its proposed route.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90130©2011 3P Arctic, The Polar Petroleum Potential Conference & Exhibition, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 30 August-2 September, 2011.