Beaufort Sea 'new frontier' for BP and Imperial Oil

Despite the glacial pace of progress of the proposed Mackenzie Valley gas pipeline, a new bright spot is emerging for energy development in Canada’s North — some of the world’s largest companies are mounting in the Beaufort Sea the first deep-water exploration program in an Arctic environment.

Imperial Oil Ltd. with its parent, Exxon Mobil Corp., and BP PLC, said yesterday they are hoping to find oil in recently acquired leases whose geology is similar to that of the prolific deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico and offshore West Africa.

Imperial oil started collecting seismic data last year, while BP will get a seismic program under way this summer. The information helps companies to assess drilling locations. Imperial expects to drill its first well around 2013, while BP could follow up with its first well around 2014, the executives in charge of the programs said at the Inuvik Petroleum Show.

“It ranks right up there with our global new-opportunity set,” Liz Jolley, exploration vice-president at BP, said on the sidelines of the annual event. “I think it’s a high-quality opportunity, it needs a lot of seismic data, it needs a lot of consideration before we move to the next phase.”

National Post