Canol shale play

The Canol shale play is the name for a region of Canada's Northwest Territories that is being investigated as a potential source of tight oil (also referred to as shale oil).[1][2] The region centers around the known reserves of conventionally exploitable petroleum at Norman Wells.

Oil industry commentators see the region as a potentially rich source of future revenue. Local native groups are concerned over the regions remoteness and extreme environmental sensitivity, and to the lack of any testing standards to scientifically measure whether the use of toxic chemicals in hydraulic fracking is causing irredeemable damage to groundwater overlaying the regions of fractured rock.[3][4] The Northern Journal quoted some of the objections of Sahtu elder Madeline Karkagie:

"Who would give our land and water for money? The oil companies will only be here until they ruin the land, then they will go. That's like our back yard. We hunted there and trapped. They built a landing strip in an area where moose calved."[3]

The first test fracturing was conducted in the region in 2012, without any prior environmental assessments being performed.[4] On October 6, 2013, The Globe and Mail reported that Henry Sykes, the CEO of MGM Energy, complained that environmental concerns were causing financially troubling delays.[5] Canada's National Energy Board gave ConocoPhillips permission to build fracking wells in the region on October 30, 2013.[6] On January 17, 2014, The Globe and Mail reported drilling would begin in February.[7]

The Canol pipeline (short for "Canadian Oil") was a small diameter pipeline completed by the US Army in 1944 to help supply conventional crude oil from Norman Wells to Alaska. It was built as a short-term project during World War II, and was operated barely more than a year.

References
  1. Darren Campbell (May 2013). "Could the N.W.T.'s Canol shale be the next Bakken?". Alberta Oil magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-06-11. Retrieved 2014-08-18. These days Hogg should be having a lot of fun. MGM Energy – a small Calgary-based junior – is part of a group of companies leading the charge to open up the N.W.T's Canol shale oil play. No one is sure just how much oil might be trapped in the dense rock that lines the remote central Mackenzie Valley where the play is located, but its potential conjures up images of North Dakota's Bakken, which was producing over 700,000 barrels of oil per day in 2012.
  2. Jack Danylchuk (2013-09-30). "Canol play sees new competitor on the Mackenzie by". Northern Journal. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2014-08-18. The Canol Shale play was one of many potential business opportunities which was part of our decision making," Gram said, but emphasized the company's "general strategy is based more on trying to satisfy local markets. If some of these bigger plays came to fruition, we will be in position if there was a fit for ITB.
  3. Jack Danylchuk (2014-01-06). "Sahtu fracking opponents calling for a region-wide vote". Northern Journal. Archived from the original on 2014-08-18. Opponents to hydraulic fracturing in the Sahtu want residents to have the last word on the controversial process and the future of the Canol shale play.
  4. Derek Leahy (2014-02-27). "NWT Residents Demand Environmental Reviews Before Fracking Is Permitted". Desmog. Retrieved 2014-02-27. Residents of the Northwest Territories are demanding environmental reviews be conducted before companies are permitted to 'frack' for oil in the NWT. Despite controversy in Canada and other countries around the effects fracking or hydraulic fracturing has on water and climate change, the NWT's first fracking project was approved last October without an environmental assessment.
  5. Jeffrey Jones (2013-10-06). "NWT's shale hopes dimmed by slow approvals, explorer says". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-08-22. MGM Energy Corp. chief executive officer Henry Sykes said regulatory hurdles are the main reason he believes that production growth in the Northwest Territories' Canol shale play in the Central Mackenzie Valley will not mirror the industry's success in the prolific Bakken oil fields of North Dakota.
  6. Carrie Tait (2013-01-30). "ConocoPhillips wins first regulatory approval of fracking in the North". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-08-22. The National Energy Board gave ConocoPhillips Co. the right to drill two wells and then use horizontal fracturing, known as fracking, methods to extract oil out of shale rocks. This is the first time the NEB has authorized a company to frack in the North.
  7. Jeffrey Jones, Carrie Tait (2014-01-17). "Fracking and climate change: Canada's Far North gets an energy boost". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2017-08-22. The global oil and gas company is preparing to employ horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology on wells in the Canol shale oil play in the Central Mackenzie Valley in February.
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