Chevron Canada Resources said its North Langley K-30 well in the Mackenzie Delta region of the Northwest Territories in Canada has encountered commercial quantities of natural gas. The well was tested at a restricted flow rate of 18 MMcf/d from the Tertiary interval. It represents the first Tertiary discovery from the recently awarded 1999 and 2000 exploration lease sales.

“This discovery has encountered exactly what we had projected we would find,” said Alex Archila, president of Chevron Canada Resources. “It reaffirms our confidence in the exploration potential and commercial viability of the region.”

Archila said the discovery will not change existing overall strategy for exploration in the region. “We will proceed with the regulatory process to permit additional exploratory well locations in the region as possible candidates for next year’s drilling season,” he said.

The discovery is jointly owned by Chevron Canada Resources (the operator), BP Canada Energy Co. and Burlington Resources Canada Ltd., the members of the Mackenzie Delta Partnership. Akita Equtak Drilling Ltd., a joint venture of Akita Drilling Ltd. and the Inuvialuit Development Corp., drilled the well. The well is located on Exploration License 394, 129 kilometers (81 miles) northwest of Inuvik, and 11 kilometers (seven miles) from Niglintgak field, one of the anchor fields for the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Project (see Daily GPI, April 8).

The Mackenzie pipeline project is likely to cost $2-3 billion with another $1 billion in production facilities on the Mackenzie Delta. The pipeline is expected to be able to carry an initial 1 Bcf/d and up to 15,000 b/d of liquid byproducts south to connections with established facilities in northern Alberta possibly as soon as 2007 (see Daily GPI, March 3).

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