EXPLORATION PROSPECTS AND FUTURE PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF THE CANADIAN ARCTIC ISLANDS

Abstract

The offshore and onshore area of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, 1.7 million sq km, is one of the most prospective frontier regions in Canada. The first onshore well was drilled at Winter Harbour in 1961, and the first offshore well was drilled from an ice‐strengthened island at Hecla in 1974. To date, more than 140 wells have been drilled, and 12.0 Tcf of recoverable gas have been discovered as well as a small amount of oil. The gas is largely Lower Jurassic, with smaller amounts in Triassic and Lower Cretaceous strata.The Canadian Arctic Archipelago is actually underlain by two prospective basins: the older Franklinian geosyncline, or basin, Cambrian through Devonian; and the younger Sverdrup successor basin, Late Mississippian through Middle Eocene. The principal orogenic events to affect the area were the Caledonian uplift (Devonian), the Ellesmerian orogeny, a compressive fold system was produced with décollement of the southern part of the Franklinian on the Ordovician Bay Fiord salt. Vertical uplift, with compression in the east, dominated the Eurekan orogeny.Objectives in the Franklinian basin include sub‐Bay Fiord (sub‐Ordovician) structures—mainly Lower Paleozoic carbonates and some terrigenous clastics; supra‐salt folds of the Parry Islands fold belt—Ordovician‐Devonian reefs and porous shelf carbonates; other Lower Paleozoic reef bodies; and porous Devonian clastics in the Parry Islands fold belt. Sverdrup basin objectives include mainly terrigenous clastic reservoirs in Pennsylvanian‐Cretaceous rocks, with structural (salt anticlines and diapirs; some folds in the east) and stratigraphic (pinchouts on the flanks of structures, and along the folds) possibilities. The greatest potential in the Sverdrup basin is in the central and western parts. Ultimate recovery of gas is estimated to be at least 125 Tcf.