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Canada’s Discovered Previous HitOilNext Hit and Previous HitGasNext Hit Resources North of 60*

By

Kenneth J. Drummond1

 

Search and Discovery Article #10102 (2006)

Posted April 10, 2006

 

 *Modified from extended abstract prepared for presentation at AAPG Annual Convention, Calgary, Alberta, June 19-22, 2005   

1Drummond Consulting, Calgary Alberta ([email protected])

 

Abstract 

The total discovered recoverable Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit resources for Canada north of 60 degrees are 1,665 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit and 31,252 billion cubic feet of natural Previous HitgasNext Hit. Initial recoverable resources by territory are, Northwest Territories – 1,330 MMB Previous HitoilNext Hit and 14,930 Bcf Previous HitgasNext Hit, Nunavut – 323 MMB Previous HitoilNext Hit and 15,963 Bcf Previous HitgasNext Hit, and the Yukon – 12 MMB Previous HitoilNext Hit and 359 Bcf Previous HitgasNext Hit.  

In Northern Canada 45 fields have discovered Previous HitoilNext Hit with original recoverable resources of 1,665 MMB, of which 230 MMB has been produced to December 31, 2004. There are 84 fields with initial recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit of 31,252 Bcf, of which only 696 Bcf has been produced to December 31, 2004. There are 99 discovered fields, 29 Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit, 16 only Previous HitoilNext Hit and 54 only Previous HitgasNext Hit. The 29 fields with Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit contain 1,059 MMB of recoverable Previous HitoilNext Hit and 11,349 Bcf of recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit. The 16 Previous HitoilNext Hit fields have 606 MMB, and the Previous HitgasNext Hit only fields have 19,903 Bcf of Previous HitgasNext Hit.  

Fields with Previous HitoilNext Hit production include Norman Wells, discovered in 1920, Bent Horn (1974), Amauligak (1983) and Cameron Hills (2003). Previous HitGasNext Hit fields with production include Beaver River, Pointed Mountain, Kotaneelee, Liard K-29, Liard P-66, Ft. Liard F-36, SE Ft Liard N-01, Cameron Hills, and Ikhil.  

The largest discovered Previous HitoilNext Hit resource is the 1 billion barrels in the Beaufort/Mackenzie Basin. Largest discovered recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit resource is in the Sverdrup Basin with 17.4 Tcf, followed by the Beaufort/Mackenzie with 9.7 Tcf.

 

 

uAbstract

uFigure captions

uBasins

uHistorical

uStratigraphic distribution

uProduction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

uAbstract

uFigure captions

uBasins

uHistorical

uStratigraphic distribution

uProduction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

uAbstract

uFigure captions

uBasins

uHistorical

uStratigraphic distribution

uProduction

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure and Table Captions

Figure 1. Sedimentary basin areas of Canada north of 60oN.

Figure 2. Discovered Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit resources for Canada north of 60oN.

Figure 3. Total wells (exploratory and development) drilled in Canada north of 60oN.

Figure 4. Discovered Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit resources for Canada north of 60oN by stratigraphic age.

Figure 5. Annual Previous HitgasNext Hit production from fields north of 60oN.

Figure 6. Annual Previous HitoilNext Hit production from fields north of 60oN.

Table 1: Previous HitOilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit discoveries - Canada north of 60oN.

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Sedimentary Basins of Northern Canada 

A wide diversity of basins characterizes Canada’s sedimentary area north of 60 degrees north. The sedimentary basins of Northern Canada (Figure 1) occupy an area of 2.5 million square kilometers (965,255 square miles), with approximately 62% offshore. Significant occurrences of Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit have been discovered in several of the basins (Figure 2).

 

Historical 

One of Canada’s earliest Previous HitoilNext Hit discoveries was made at Norman Wells in 1920. The Norman Wells Previous HitoilNext Hit field has produced 226 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit to December 31, 2004, with remaining Previous HitoilNext Hit reserves of 76 million barrels. Signicant discoveries were made in the Mackenzie/Beaufort Basin and the Arctic Islands in the 1970’s and 1980’s. A resurgence of activity has resulted in discovery of Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit in the Cameron Hills and Previous HitgasNext Hit discoveries in the Liard Plateau.  

Drilling activity, as shown in Figure 3, has been sporadic over the years, with increased activity in the war years, during the early1970’s, and the major development drilling at Norman Wells in the mid 1980’s. The mainland Territories has had a resurgence of activity in the late 1990’s and into the current decade. A total of 1544 wells have been drilled to the end of 2004, of which approximately 980 have been exploratory.  

The first discovery in the Arctic Islands was Drake Point, which blew out in 1969. This is the largest discovery in the Arctic Islands Sverdrup Basin, with 5.4 Tcf of recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit resource. The first discovery in the Mackenzie/Beaufort Basin was the Cretaceous Atkinson Point Previous HitoilNext Hit discovery in 1970, with 42 million barrels of recoverable Previous HitoilNext Hit. The most significant discovery to date is the Taglu Previous HitgasNext Hit discovery in 1971, with 2.7 Tcf of recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit.  

A listing of Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit discoveries, as of December, 2004, is shown in Table 1. A total of 99 fields are listed, with recoverable resources of 1665 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit and 31,252 billion cubic feet of natural Previous HitgasNext Hit. To the end of 2004, cumulative Previous HitoilNext Hit production was 230 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit (13.8% of the total) and cumulative Previous HitgasNext Hit production of 696 billion cubic feet (2.2% of the total resource).  

The remaining discovered Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit resources in Northern Canada are large and an additional large volume remains to be discovered.

 

Stratigraphic Distribution 

Discovered Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit north of 60 occurs in reservoirs ranging in age from the Cambrian to the Miocene (Figure 4). Cambrian Previous HitgasNext Hit been discovered in the Colville Hills of the Northwest Territories, with recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit resources of 262 Bcf. Devonian Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit occurs in the Southern Territories and Liard Plateau, with 1.25 million barrels of recoverable Previous HitoilNext Hit and 1352 Bcf of recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit. The only discovery in the Mackenzie Plain is the Devonian Kee Scarp Previous HitoilNext Hit discovery at Norman Wells, with 302 million barrels recoverable. Lower Paleozoic (Ordovician to Devonian) Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit has also been discovered along the southern basin margin of the Mackenzie/Beaufort Basin. There is one Devonian Previous HitoilNext Hit field, Bent Horn, in the Arctic Islands, which was abandoned in 1997, after producing 2.84 million barrels.  

Carboniferous to Permian Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit have been discovered in the Liard area and the Eagle Plains, with total recoverable resources of 12 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit and 104 Bcf of natural Previous HitgasNext Hit. The major Mesozoic Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit discoveries occur in the Arctic Islands Sverdrup Basin and along the basin margin of the Beaufort/Mackenzie. The Mesozoic discoveries of Beaufort/Mackenzie are primarily Cretaceous with recoverable resource of 66 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit and 1,400 Bcf of Previous HitgasNext Hit. The Mesozoic dominates the discoveries of the Arctic Islands Sverdrup Basin with 332 million barrels of recoverable Previous HitoilNext Hit and 17,383 Bcf of recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit.  

Tertiary Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit discoveries occur in the prograding deltaic sequences of the Beaufort/Mackenzie Basin, with 939 million barrels of recoverable Previous HitoilNext Hit and 8295 billion cubic feet of recoverable Previous HitgasNext Hit. The one field in Baffin Bay has an estimated 2.3 Tcf in a Paleocene sandstone.

 

Production from Canada’s Northern Basins 

Basins with production north of 60 include Southern Territories, Liard Plateau, Mackenzie Plain, Beaufort/Mackenzie, and Arctic Islands Fold Belt. Annual production of Previous HitoilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit from Canada’s northern basins is shown in Figures 5 and 6. Previous HitOilNext Hit and Previous HitgasNext Hit production from the Southern Territories began in February, 2002, from the Devonian in the Cameron Hills. Cumulative production to December 31, 2004, is 490,000 barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit and 11.4 Bcf of Previous HitgasNext Hit. Cumulative Previous HitgasNext Hit production from the Liard Plateau is 682 Bcf. The Norman Wells Previous HitoilNext Hit field has produced 226 million barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit, and production in December, 2004, was 19,973 barrels a day.  

First production from the Mackenzie Delta was in July, 1999, from the Ikhil Previous HitgasNext Hit field, which provides local production to the town of Inuvik. Cumulative production to December 31, 2004, is 2.6 Bcf. In the Beaufort Sea a total of 317,000 barrels of Previous HitoilNext Hit was produced to a tanker in 1986.  

In the Arctic Islands Previous HitoilNext Hit was shipped by tanker every summer from the Bent Horn field for the years 1985 to 1996. A total of 2.8 million barrels was produced with the field being abandoned in 1997. The Previous HitoilNext Hit reservoir is a thrust faulted Devonian carbonate below the southern margin of the Sverdrup Basin.

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