The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment has released its reporting of oil and gas activity in the Northwest Territories for 2020. In what proved to be a slower year, Minister Caroline Wawzonek said much of the focus was towards the future.

The total aggregate oil production between January 1 and December 31, 2020, was 1,946,717 barrels.  The total aggregate natural gas production was 51.22 million cubic feet.

The NWT has a policy of being open to Expressions of Interest from companies interested in gaining the right to explore petroleum on GNWT subsurface lands. That said, there were no rights issuance processes conducted in the onshore regions of the NWT in 2020.

The Northwest Territories Environmental Studies Research Fund (NWT ESRF) continued its work to support scientific research in the territory, funding several projects related to boreal caribou, methane emissions, biodiversity monitoring and groundwater monitoring. The ESRF last year added the abandonment and remediation of petroleum sites as a new research priority.

Click here to read the Oil & Gas Annual Report 2020 in full.