British Columbia continues to see increased rig activity in Horn River basin
British Columbia netted a record $2.4 billion in oil and gas land rights sales for the fiscal year 2008/09 – doubling last year’s old record of $1.2 billion. The renowned Horn River Basin and Montney shale formation areas in northeastern B.C. accounted for over 80 % of 08/09 sales with 190 land parcels totalling 247,227 hectares being sold which contributed over $1.9 billion collectively.
B.C. is the only significant jurisdiction in Canada and only one of two in North America that has seen oil and gas rig activity in January and February 2009 increase over the same period in 2008.
Blair Lekstrom, Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Minister stated today:
“The records shattered by the 2008-09 oil and gas land rights sales underscore the unprecedented growth of the B.C. energy sec. Investors recognize the oil and gas resource potential in B.C. evidenced by records like an incredible $33,649 per-hectare bid for a drilling licence. Projects such as the $187-million Sierra Yoyo Desan road upgrade and our royalty program incentives make B.C. a very attractive place to invest in oil and gas.”
Large Canadian firms EnCana Corp. (TSX:ECA), Nexen Inc. (TSX:NXY), Talisman Energy Inc. (TSX:TLM), Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (TSX:CNQ), as well as Canadian juniors like Trivello Energy (TSX-V:TRV), Kodiak Energy (TSX-V:KDK), Result Energy (TSX-V:RTE) and others are all active in northeast B.C., as well as U.S. companies EOG Resources Inc. (NYSE:EOG) and Apache Corp. (NYSE:APA) and others.
The first sale for the 2009/10 fiscal year is scheduled for April 22, offering 24 parcels (29,009 hectares).
In recent months the BC government has announced a $187 million investment into the infratructure of the Horn River basin; Encana announced the first $400 million of a multi-billion dollar gas plant near Fort Nelson and TransCanada a $340 million pipeline to carry Horn River gas to market.
The best years for the Horn River and Montney are ahead of us.
