Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of ITI. On May 22 there was a press release issued by the Government of Canada, the first time in history the National Energy Board and the Northwest Territories Geological Survey did an unconventional petroleum assessment in the Sahtu. The facts are there. There are a billion barrels of oil in the Sahtu. The recoverable rate is yet to be determined. The unknowns are still yet to be looked at.
I want to ask the Minister, now that we know the amount, possibly, of the oil in the Sahtu region, and even the percentage recoverable of that oil, what do we do with this information that’s been released by the National Energy Board and by our own government?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment, Mr. Ramsay.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This was welcome news for us. It’s something we’ve known for a long time, is that there is great resource potential for both oil and gas in the central Mackenzie Valley. The report would indicate that there are close to 200 billion barrels of oil there. We have only drilled two wells. I believe Conoco was the company that drilled two wells in the area. There is a lot of work that will go into determining what the resource really will be like. The exploration should continue and wells can be drilled and a determination made on what that resource would look like, but if you look at other deposits and basins around the world, a recovery rate of somewhere around 6 percent to 9 percent would leave us somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil. We’ve been promoting the fact that we thought there was between three and five billion, but it could be much, much more than that figure.
In regard to the energy briefing note that I received from the Minister’s office, that in comparison to the amount of oil that’s been reported, and just on the best guess estimation of recoverable oil in the Sahtu region on a comparison basis, the Norman Wells conventional oilfield so far to date has pumped 274 million barrels of oil. There’s a huge amount in the Sahtu.
I want to ask the Minister, based on his reports and his understanding to recover that oil, we have to use the new technology called hydraulic horizontal fracturing. Does the Minister feel confident, given the time that we have now, that this new technology is sound, is safe, and that it can do what it says it can do, extract the oil so that the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories can benefit on many fronts and that this information is solid, evidence-based, not hearsay or not thinking what other risks can be considered as not concrete evidence that this is a dangerous technology to use in the Northwest Territories? Thank you.
I think, with the resource that is in the Sahtu, it’s important that the government continue to take the long game approach to the development of those resources. Two big decisions were made. Obviously, the decision to move forward with devolution and negotiate a deal for the people of the Northwest Territories, that was very important. The other decision that was key to all of this was the fact that we wanted to build the capacity to regulate the oil and gas industry here in the Northwest Territories. We didn’t want to be regulated from Calgary; we wanted to have some input on policy, on direction. That was a big thing for us and we moved forward. We have the regulatory authority onshore to develop these resources, and we are in a process right now where we have draft filing requirements out for public review. We are consulting with Aboriginal governments around the territory, as I mentioned in my Minister’s statement earlier today. We are going to take some time. We are going to ensure that we hear from everybody we need to hear from. We’re going to try to get the information out there the people need to make informed decisions about these new regulations.
The fact of the matter is we are regulating the industry. These are our resources. They belong to the people of the Sahtu, the people of the Northwest Territories, and who better to manage the environment and these resources than the Government of the Northwest Territories. Thank you.
That’s been our goal and the goal of the Sahtu people, to manage our own resources. That is why the people in the Sahtu strongly voted for a land claim. It says in our land use plans and it says in our land claims that we will direct our own destiny and deal with the issues that need to be dealt with in our jurisdiction.
I want to ask the Minister, given what we know in the Sahtu, the reports are there, the facts are clear that this is the amount of oil that we have in our region sitting there, what do we do now that the oil prices are not quite where we want them to be? What is the triggering part that the department thinks can get the companies to come back? What are the factors that would make it so the companies could come back and further test the wells to really determine what’s recoverable under their leases?
There are many things we can do. We continue to discuss with industry, opportunities to partner. We have to look at the opportunities to invest and continue to invest in infrastructure that is going to lend itself to resource development here in the Northwest Territories. I mentioned a lot of that in my Minister’s statement earlier today as well. This is a long-term approach. This is why it is so vitally important that we get our Oil and Gas Strategy together so we can collect our thoughts and move forward on developing resources on behalf of the people of the Northwest Territories.
In the case of the Sahtu and the negotiations with the land claim and subsurface rights, the volume of oil and resource that is in the Sahtu, it is going to be multi-generational if it’s developed in the right way, in a sustainable manner. It will provide employment and economic opportunity for the Sahtu for generations to come. We can manage this and we can get the benefits from it if we do it right. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The amount of gas and oil in the Northwest Territories, a lot of it is up in the Mackenzie Delta, Beaufort-Delta, a lot of oil in the Sahtu. They use the technology of hydraulic fracking in the Fort Liard basin area. The Lone Pine Reserves have used vertical hydraulic fracking in the Cameron Hills.
I want to know from the Minister, based on the ‘70s use of the oil and gas exploration in the Cameron Hills, as the year of 2012 in Fort Liard they used the horizontal fracking technology there, has the Minister from his department or ENR collected any type of evidence that says what the anti-fracking people are saying about horizontal fracking in the Northwest Territories? Has there been any type of solid, qualified, certified evidence that says no, this is bad for the Northwest Territories, it’s not a good method to use, and we need to wait until we have further evidence to show that it’s minimizing the risk?
No, we haven’t. The other thing I should mention is that not all reservoirs are created equally. There are different types of rocks. Some hydraulic fracturing that would occur, say, in the Bakken, would require more water than it would in the central Mackenzie Valley. It all depends on the type of rock, and the rock we’re talking about with Canol and Blue Fish wouldn’t require as much water as other hydraulic fracturing operations around North America. That’s definitely something I think we need to continue to get out.
I believe there have been 175,000 wells for shale oil that have been fractured, hydraulically fractured in North America without incident. Some of the concerns are around shallow gas fractures that have taken place in the eastern United States.
If you’re going to be in the energy business, like I believe the Northwest Territories is going to be in the energy business, you’re definitely in the business of protecting the environment. You’re not in one without the other, and I think we can manage effectively both the economy and the environment.
Thank you, Mr. Ramsay. The time for oral questions has expired. Mr. Hawkins.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I seek unanimous consent to return to item 8 on the orders of the day called oral questions.
---Unanimous consent denied
