the telkwa proposal
In December 2003, the B.C. Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources issued a call for proposals to develop coalbed gas resources near Telkwa, B.C..
In January 2004, it announced that Outrider Energy would have first rights to explore and develop coalbed methane near Telkwa. Incidentally, no other company expressed interest in the development.
There is currently no commercial coalbed methane production in British Columbia. If the Telkwa project were to go ahead, it will be the first in the province.
Where?
The Village of Telkwa (pop. 1,400) is located in the Bulkley Valley, at the confluence of the Telkwa and Bulkley rivers, along Yellowhead Highway 16 approximately 18 kilometres south east of Smithers, and 35 kilometres west of Houston. Telkwa is in the Bulkley-Nechako Regional District.
Village of Telkwa's Official Community Plan (OCP)
The Telkwa Coalfield is located adjacent to the community of Telkwa, B.C. The proposed coalbed methane tenure comprises part of the coalfield.
Download map of the Telka Coalfield (PDF format)
Download map of the proposed CBM tenure (PDF format)
The proponent
Outrider Energy Ltd. is a private Alberta corporation involved in the development of coalbed methane, fractured shale gas, and shale oil.
Outrider manages a significant portion of its work program with Norwest Corporation as its primary consultant in resource assessment, reservoir development and environmental compliance support and permitting, creating a synergistic combination of both technical expertise and global experience in project execution.
Outrider's majority shareholder is ARC Financial Corporation, a private energy investment management company, based in Calgary. ARC manages private equity funds focused on high growth, early stage companies in the energy industry.
The process
Prior to issuing the tenure, the Ministry refers tenure requests to local governments, First Nations and other provincial agencies which have either a legislated responsibility to provide comment or other government to government links to the process. The referral process for the Telkwa coalfield was initiated on June 5, 2006 and runs until November 1, 2006.
Following the referral process, the Ministry will draft a memo to be considered by the B.C. cabinet. The memo will include an overview of the proposal, a draft tenure, and a recommendation as to whether the Ministry feels the tenure should be approved.
To grant the tenure, the Cabinet will need to vote in favour of an Order in Council. This is not the usual process for the granting of oil and gas tenures in British Columbia.
Once tenure is granted, regulatory monitoring and enforcement is conducted by the Oil and Gas Commission.