Nechako Basin Interest Increases

Thursday, June 22, 2006 04:00 AM

Map shows Nechako Basin and its rival Bowser Basin to the north

Agriculture Minister Pat Bell says following meetings in Calgary with leading Oil executives, "We feel there is now some interest in the Nechako basin to drill for gas and Oil."

The MLA for Prince -George North says there needs to be some sort of incentive "The big thing we need is to put a package that would attract them here" says Bell.

Bell says "We went to Calgary and said to them, what would be required to get you fellows to actively come here and drill some wells."

The province had earlier put $5 million into an exploratory pot hoping to attract some of the major players into the Nechako basin.

"The Nechako basin seems to be where the interest lies" said Bell, the gas companies feel that the Bowser basin is not as opportunistic as the Nechako basin at this time. These companies he added feel that the Bowser basin is not likely to be as productive as the Nechako Basin.

"We have now returned home and we are working on a plan to try and provide them with the information that they need, I’m hoping that there will be a decision by the end of summer" said Bell.

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Posted on Thursday, June 22, 2006 04:00 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Gofaster on June 22 2006 7:11 AM

Give them more money Mr.Bell. Sooner or later you are bound to pay them enough to come in and do the work and of course they will take all the profits with them when they go.

Is this another example of Campbell's government incompetance???

Posted by: owl on June 22 2006 8:21 AM

As long as it is after tax profits and those taxes are structured to return the incentives plus, why should you care about them taking the profits?

Posted by: Palopu on June 22 2006 8:49 AM

Dont hold your breath on this one. A number of Oil Companies did exploration in the Nechako Basin prior to the 1980's and the last was done by Canadian Hunter Explorations in the 1980's they did not find anything of any significance at that time and left. It seems that while there is the potential for a lot of oil in the area it is not easily accessible.

I think that we can safly assume that if there were millions/billions of oil readily available in the Nechako Basin, we would not have to pay the Oil Co's to look for it. They would be fighting to get into these areas an exploit them.

It seems this is more about political hype, and less about facts

Posted by: lunarguy on June 22 2006 8:58 AM

The scary thing is we give the oil companies huge tax benefits, exploration incentives, right-offs and other concessions that other industries do not get. Then they turn around and make a large fortune off of that while employing the majority of their work force from Alberta. There are some short term benefits and if you economy was in the tank before it will seem like a good thing ( like what Fort. St. John is experiencing ) but once things start to subside things will just go back to being based in Alberta and the jobs with them. If you look at the majority of the trucks in Fort St. John they are still licensed in Alberta ( better system for corporate insurance than BC ) and the vehicles are purchased from Alberta dealers as no PST as well. Then they spend the next 3 years of their life in BC. This has helped our economy how ?

Posted by: trusted on June 22 2006 9:26 AM

Any party who thinks a company will come in at considerable expense, do the work, and walk away empty handed needs help-lots of help!!!
Nothing to do with the Liberal Gov't and incompetence!!!!
Best to pay close attention to "Pal's" information.
If, in fact, it is merely "political" hype, rest assured progress will be at a snail's pace until just prior to another election, and then they shall become the eternal optimists and promote that Nechako basin flat out again.
May be a majority of Alberta based companies in Fort St. John, but it is still in British Columbia, and the government is also making a fortune.
If the prediction were to be true that we could achieve a great supply of oil and gas from the Nechako basin, I wonder how many would complain if we had a "boom", and some exploration companies were also making a dollar??
Ah, don't sweat it-Pal is right-it probably just is not there!!!
More political propoganda!!

Posted by: Chadermando on June 22 2006 9:37 AM

Small juniors that start the exploration work in new fields like this do noot come in until they have the ability to tie into a pipeline as soon as the well is ready for production. Ideally they look towards a 30 day turn around time otherwise they have other places they can drill with their limited exploration dollars and realize the investment immediately.

The new Enbridge pipeline is the enabler for this industry in the Nechako basin.

Posted by: thereasonableman on June 22 2006 10:19 PM

The last post made everything make a lot more sense.

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on June 23 2006 12:08 AM

The first oil in he Canadian Arctic was found on January 13, 1970, by Imperial Oil at Atkinson Point. Hard to imagine a bleaker spot. There was 1500 feet of permafrost. There wasn't enough oil to make it a commercial venture.
In November 1970 a gas well blew out on King Christian Island in the High Arctic and ran wild until Jan 29 1971. The fire could be seen 350 miles away. It was flowing 400,000,000 cu ft per day.
Lots of other wells drilled in the Arctic were dusters.

All this exploration was made posible by the federal government tax policies. Natural gas may start to flow from Tuk after all these years.
The pay back of most wells in remote areas usually happens after most of the explorers have died or retired.
That's why governments need to be involved in order to make it worthwhile for the people doing the work today. The pay out of the exploration wells will be for the next generation, if ever.

So don't get yourselves all worked up and jealous that these people won't work unless they can make it, and spend it, any how they like.

Posted by: trusted on June 23 2006 12:20 PM

The exploration is performed by big companys, not by individual, as you call them, explorers.
And I doubt the public will get too "worked up" over statements made by Bell. He is just making some small talk to let us know he is still around.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch-----!!!!!

Posted by: Palopu on June 23 2006 6:00 PM

The Nechako basin runs from somewhere south of Smithers BC, to the area of Williams Lake, Dog Creek, etc.; This is a huge area. Can we assume that we would be so lucky as to find a huge deposit of oil close the the proposed Enbridge pipeline. Highly unlikely. If they found any at all it would probably be South of Quesnel, or somewhere in the Skeena. In any event considering the size of the Bowser, and Nechako Basin, it is somewhat foolish of us to beleive that we would get the benefit of any discoverys. Towns like Houston, Smithers, Burns Lake etc; could get some business. Ask yourself this?? How much business do we get from the Oil and Gas Industry in Ft St John. We would get some spin off business, however that would be all. It is highly unlikely that parts and equipment would come to Prince George, only to be loaded out again West to where it is needed. More likely it will go as close as possible to where it is required.

Posted by: Chester on June 25 2006 11:55 PM

Gofaster - I get the sense that you are concerned about Mr. Pat Bell offering incentives?

Let me help you understand why incentives are necessary.

Under the previous government, businesses were not welcome in BC.

We had a labour force that could not be relied upon.

We had consistant blockades from either the natives or the environmentalists.

And we had a unionized workforce that continues to bash business and is opposed to a business making a profit.

Please help me understand how, why and where people are supposed to get their jobs from? Chester