Frequently Asked Questions
Web site:
Rights/Dispositions:
Exploration and Development:
Pipelines:
Training and Education:
How do I find what I'm looking for on your Web site?
If you cannot find what you are looking for on our Web site, check our site map. If you still cannot find the information you need, please contact us and tell us about your needs. Our website has been designed with our clients in mind and its ease of use is important to us.
How do I download one of the maps or forms and save it on my computer?
If you want to save one of the Adobe Acrobat documents or files from our site to your hard drive for later use, you have 2 options.
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You can right-click the link to the file you want and choose "Save Target As".
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You can open the file using Acrobat Reader, then click on the save button. If Acrobat Reader is installed on your system, your browser will automatically open the document in Acrobat Reader when you click on the link.
RIGHTS / DISPOSITIONS
What is a land sale?
- A land sale is the transfer of oil and gas rights to companies through a disposition process.
- "Disposition " is the legally correct term.
- Land sale, while misleading in its connotation, is commonly and normally used to describe the process. In fact, no land is sold through the disposition process. Only rights to the oil and gas resources as specified in the Oil and Gas Act and its regulations are transferred to the private sector for a limited period of time.
What is the oil and gas disposition process?
The oil and gas disposition process includes a referral process where a nominated area is reviewed for environmental, socio-economic and surface access concerns. (Further to this, most proposed activites requiring a license must undergo a development assessment under YESAA.
Are dispositions given out in places with unsettled land claims?
No. The Yukon Government does not hold oil & gas rights issuances in areas where First Nations land claims have not been settled.
Who owns the oil & gas in the Yukon?
The Government of Yukon (Commissioner) owns subsurface oil & gas in the Yukon Territory. The only major exception is category "A" land for which First Nations have settled land claims.
EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT
What type of formation do you look for to find reserves?
Sedimentary rock, such as sandstone and limestone, can contain oil and/or gas if the right conditions are met. These conditions include the presence of:
- an organic source rock which, generates the oil and/or gas;
- reservoir rock with interconnected pore spaces which hold the petroleum; and
- a "trap" or non-porous cap rock which prevents the oil and/or gas from escaping to another formation (or to surface).
How does natural gas form?
Oil and gas is formed from the remains of tiny marine animals and plants that lived 50 million years ago. Over long periods of time and under immense pressure and temperature, these once living tissues turned into crude oil and natural gas.
In Canada, natural gas is now the leading source of heat for homes and businesses. It continues to be adopted by more homebuilders and enterprises each year. High-efficiency furnaces, water heaters, clothes dryers, stoves, fireplaces and barbecues also operate on natural gas. Its use to generate electricity is one of the fastest growing uses of this fuel.
As the demand for natural gas increases, new supplies will be developed in the Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Exploration has already established that large supplies exist in these regions. Large-volume production from these frontiers will not be feasible until new pipelines are constructed to move natural gas to southern markets.
How deep are wells usually drilled?
In the Yukon, significant hydrocarbon discoveries have been made at depths ranging from 600 metres to 5000 metres.
How do seismic lines in Yukon compare to those elsewhere?
At present, seismic line density is much less than in provincial oil and gas producing regions. All new seismic activity is being done using low-impact techniques (L.I.S.).
What is L.I.S. (Low-impact seismic)?
Low impact seismic is a term that represents best efforts by industry to reduce the impact of a program on the the environment. In Yukon, the concerns are preventing damage to wildlife habitat, waterways and permafrost. The type of methods used to lower the impact of seismic depends upon the program design and the land that the operation will be taking place in. The goal of L.I.S. is to achieve the smallest footprint that still leaves the project economically viable. Some examples include of low impact techniques and tools are:
- Vibroseis
- Activity Timing
- G.P.S.
- Track mounted
- Heli-portable
- Heli-staking
Conventional seismic |
Low-impact seismic |
What seismic activity is taking place in the Yukon?
See our exploration and development for information about recent exploration in the Yukon.
What can modern drilling technology do?
Modern oil and gas drilling technology allows many wells to be drilled from a single location through directional or horizontal drilling. In the past, wells were drilled vertically to the reservoir from scattered well sites.
Today, they can be started from a single location and steered out to desired targets in the reservoir -- some as far as eight kilometers.
PIPELINES
What are the main features of pipelines?
Canada has nearly 700,000 kilometres of underground pipeline that transport virtually all our country's daily crude oil and natural gas production to consumers in Canada and the United States.
Pipelines are the safest, most reliable and cost-effective way of transporting the large amounts of oil and natural gas that must be moved throughout Canada each day. Almost all of Canada's crude oil and natural gas production makes all or part of its journey to market by pipeline. In Canada, natural gas is generally transported only by pipeline.
What are the potential consequences of pipeline construction?
If industry chooses the Alaska Highway route for a natural gas pipeline, each river and creek crossing on the proposed route will have to be reviewed and environmental issues addressed as part of the regulatory process. If it's going to be done at all, it's going to be done right.
If a natural gas pipeline is going to be built in the Yukon, almost the entire length will be buried in a trench over a meter deep. The trench is filled in and the topsoil replaced. Then the pipeline right-of-way is seeded and landscaped with grasses and shrubs that are native to the region.
