Far North Holds Fossil Fuels

Huge oil and gas projects are likely to commence in Canada and Alaska within the next 10 years.Some of the final frontiers in North American drilling are poised for extraction.In Canada's Northwest Territories,the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline is to wind 750 miles/1206.9 km along the Mackenzie River.The river is Canada's longest,with 1068 navigable miles/1718.7 km from Great Slave Lake to the Beaufort Sea.Just west of the river are the Mackenzie Mountains,which rise to over 9,000 feet/2743.2 km.The Mackenzie Valley is characterized by its boreal forest ecosystem.An estimated three billion birds breed in the forest,making it the motherlode of North American bird life.Many subsistence communities,the First Nations,live off this land,co-existing with wolves,moose and grizzly bears.Roads,compressor stations,processing plants,airstrips,feeder pipelines and housing for 8,000 construction workers need to be installed in order to build and support the pipeline,which will transport natural gas from a minimum of three production fields to points south,including the tar sands of Alberta.The tar sands plants heat the sands up with natural gas in order to extract the heavy crude oil contained in the sand.Big stakeholders in the tar sands include Suncor Energy(SU) and Marathon Oil(MRO).The pipeline project will cost an estimated 14 billion dollars U.S..Most of the First Nations along the Mackenzie support the pipeline,as they will get a one-third ownership stake.The territorial government is strongly behind it as well.Meanwhile,the U.S. Minerals Management Service will hold a lease sale on February 6 for 46,000 square miles/74,027.8 square km of outer continental shelf in the Chukchi Sea,which is off Alaska's northwest coast.The area contains an estimated 15 billion barrels of conventionally recoverable oil and 77 trillion cubic feet of conventionally recoverable natural gas.No drilling will occur within 50 miles/80.465 km of shore.The lease sale is supported by the state of Alaska,local officials and tribal leaders.The buffer will provide for wildlife migration and subsistence hunting.The Chukchi oil reserves are greater than those in Brazil's Tupi oil field,which contains about eight billion barrels.Companies such as Exxon Mobil(XOM) and Chevron(CVX) may be bidding for the leases.