• Minerals, Oil & Gas
  • Programs & services
    • Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Office
    • Northwest Territories Geoscience Office
    • Prospector's Grubstake
    • Socio-Economic Agreements
  • Strategies & Agreements
  • Publications
  • For More Information...
• Business & Economic Development
• Energy
• Diamonds
• Tourism & Parks
• Arts & Crafts
• Fur, Agriculture & Fisheries

Mining, Oil & Gas

Geology

There are huge areas in the NWT which are only lightly explored. These regions are much less explored than any regions of either Alberta or B.C.

As an overview, the NWT has five regions with hydrocarbon potential; The Southern Territories (up to about 64 degrees); The Mackenzie Plain, the Peel Plateau; Colville Hills; and the Mackenzie Delta region.

The Norman Wells field is estimated to contain remaining recoverable oil reserves of about 150 million barrels. The discovered, but unconnected reserves of oil and gas are substantial in the Mackenzie Delta region.

	SOUTHERN TERRITORIES Age: Cambrian to Cretaceous Thickness: Shallow in east to 5000 m in foothills, with potential reservoirs from 700 to 4500 m in depth Basin Type: Precambrian rifts, Palaeozoic continental margin, Mesozoic foreland basin Depositional Setting: Palaeozoic shallow marine shelf to shelf margin, Mesozoic foreland basin Structural Setting: Thrust folds in west, normal faults in plains Reservoirs: Middle to Upper Devonian carbonates, Mississippian and Cretaceous sandstones Number of Wells: 400, or 1 per 464 square-km Pipelines: Norman Wells Oil P/L, Pointed Mountain Gas P/L
	MACKENZIE PLAIN Age: Proterozoic to Early Cretaceous Depth: 500 to 4500 m to target zones Basin Type: Cretaceous - Tertiary foreland basin over Palaeozoic continental margin Depositional Setting: Palaeozoic shallow-water carbonate shelf, clastic shelf, fluvial-marine Cretaceous to Tertiary shelf Structural Setting: Westward dipping monocline, uplifted and thrusted in west; salt related swells; wrench faulting; deep seated thrust detachments Reservoirs: Middle Devonian carbonates, Ordovician to Silurian carbonates, Cretaceous sandstones Number of Wells: 76 exploratory, >345 development at Norman Wells Pipelines: Norman Wells Oil P/L to Zama Lake, Alberta
	PEEL PLATEAU Age: Palaeozoic, Cretaceous Thickness: 1000-4000 m, target depths to 4000 m Basin Type: Cretaceous foreland basin over Paleozoic continental margin Depositional Setting: Marine carbonate platform to basin (early Palaeozoic), marine shelf (late Devonian), alluvial to marine shelf (Cretaceous) Structural Setting: Southwestward dipping monocline, bordered to west and south by orogenic belts Reservoirs: Lower Palaeozoic platform and shelf-edge carbonates, Imperial and Cretaceous sandstones Number of Wells: 52 exploratory, no discoveries Nearest Pipeline: Norman Wells Oil P/L to Zama Lake, Alberta
	COLVILLE HILLS Age: Cambrian, Ordovician, Devonian Thickness: 1000 to 1400 m to target depth Basin Type: Intra-Cratonic Cambrian basin, cratonic margin Depositional Setting: Restricted/continental, marine carbonate shelf Structural Setting: Northward trending system of extensional faults with superimposed transpression Reservoirs: Cambrian sandstones, mainly gas potential Number of Wells: 25, (22 exploratory; 3 delineation) Nearest Pipeline: Norman Wells Oil P/L to Zama Lake, Alberta
	MACKENZIE DELTA Age: Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, overlying Palaeozoic and underlying the landward margin of the Tertiary Beaufort-Mackenzie Basin Depth: 1000 to 5000 m to target Basin Type: Rifted Continental margin Depositional Setting: Shoreface, deltaic, marine shelf Structural Setting: Extensional faulting with superimposed compression restricted to the west Reservoirs: Wave-dominated deltaic sandstones, shelf sandstones Number of Wells: 81 total (68 exploratory, 13 delineation) Pipelines: None