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CANADIAN ARCTIC TRACTS FIND NO TAKERS

April 25, 1994

The oil industry continues to place exploration and development in the Canadian Arctic on long term hold. There were no responses to a recent federal call for exploration rights on large tracts in the Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta. The area offered in the latest sale covered more than 621,000 sq miles in the Mackenzie Delta, the Western Beaufort Sea, and Arctic Islands.

The oil industry continues to place exploration and development in the Canadian Arctic on long term hold.

There were no responses to a recent federal call for exploration rights on large tracts in the Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta.

The area offered in the latest sale covered more than 621,000 sq miles in the Mackenzie Delta, the Western Beaufort Sea, and Arctic Islands.

A government spokesman said industry's lack of interest was disappointing but not surprising because arctic frontiers are a high cost area. A wildcat can cost $50 million in the region, estimated to hold 40% of Canada's potential petroleum resources.