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Within the Fort Norman part of the Mackenzie Basin
there are many pronounced folds. Owing to the fact that
the soft Cretaceous beds are largely concealed by muskeg
in the inter-stream areas and that Middle Devonian lime-
stone resists erosion more effectively, only such folds as
expose a core of Middle Devonian or older strata are known.
The Cretaceous beds, however, are folded, and there is
good reason to expect that suitable oil structures may be
found in areas underlain by these rocks.

There is no doubt that reservoir rocks are present in all
stiatigraphic groups from the Silurian to the Cretaceous.
In the Silurian strata there are very massive, cavernous
beds, in places somewhat bituminous, that are highly
porous. The Upper Devonian Bosworth formation over-
lying the Fort Creek shales contains many sandstone beds
that could, under favourable structural conditions, act as
reservoir beds for oil and gas. The Cretaceous, also, has
a considerable thickness of sandstones in its lower part.
These features, together with favourable structures observed
in an area where seepages give abundant evidence of oil,
point to the Mackenzie basin as the most favourable pros-
pecting territory in Canada.

The area of the oilfield at Norman Wells has been fairly
well outlined by drilling, and a very considerable part of
the field of over 4,000 acres will probably prove productive.

A considerable part of this area is under the Mackenzie
River.

So far, the wildcat wells drilled outside the Norman
field have failed to find other reserves or favourable indica-
tions. However, the Fort Creek shales appear to offer
excellent possibilities of discovering other oil-bearing reefs,
and Mackenzie Valley, where it is underlain by Upper
Devonian strata, should reward further exploration and
test drilling. First attention should be given to areas
where seepages of petroleum occur; second, to anticlinal
structures where erosion has not penetrated deep into the
Fort Creek shales; and third, to anticlinal structures with
a fairly thick cover of Cretaceous beds.

In the Norman field, prior to 1942, Imperial Oil had
drilled eleven wells, four of which were producers. Develop-
ment of the field received great impetus as a result of
Japan’s entry into the recent war, since Norman Wells
was the nearest potential source of an assured supply of
motor fuel for military operations in Alaska. Following
negotiations between the United States and Canadian
Governments, the former entered into a contract with
Imperial Oil, Limited, under which that company under-
took to drill new wells in an attempt to increase production
from the Norman field by more than 3,000 barrels of crude
oil per day. This oil was to be transported by pipeline
across the Mackenzie Mountains and the Yukon Plateau
to Whitehorse, where a refinery was to be erected. The
scheme became known as the Canol Project, a more detailed
discussion of which appears in a separate section of this
report.

[38 }

Large-scale development of the field was started in the
spring of 1942, and proceeded steadily during the next
three years. The total number of wells drilled was in-
creased to sixty-seven, of which sixty were productive.
As of Match 8, 1945, when drilling operations under the
war contract ceased, total production of the field was
1,977,646 barrels of crude oil, of which 1,858,751 barrels
were produced under the Canol Project. The average
daily output amounted to over 4,000 barrels during the
last few months of operation.

When the Japanese threat to the North Pacific Region
was removed, economic considerations forced abandonment
of the Canol Project. Most of the wells were capped or
plugged, and only sufficient oil was produced to meet the
needs of the Mackenzie Valley region.

Arctic Red River and Mackenzie River Delta Area.—
The area through which the Arctic Red River and the lower
part of the Mackenzie River flow is underlain mainly by
Cretaceous strata. From the general trend of the structure,
there is little doubt that Upper Devonian rocks are present,

and these would be expected to occur under the Cretaceous
of this area.

It may be added that the delta of the Mackenzie River
itself offers possibilities worth testing. Over much of the
area outcrops of bed-rock are lacking, but the age and struc-
tural trend of the nearest exposures suggest a great thickness

of sediments, dominantly marine, which may be potential
source-beds for petroleum,

Peel and Porcupine Rivers Area——Much of the area
around the Peel and Porcupine Rivers, largely unexplored,
is believed to be underlain by Paleozoic and Cretaceous
beds that are possible source rocks for oil, and that has
been subjected to only moderate folding and faulting.

On the lower parts of Wind and Bonnet Plume Rivers,
tributaries of the Peel, and for 13 miles along the upper
reaches of the Peel River, there is a Tertiary basin overlying
Cretaceous rocks. Seepages of oil have been reported
from this area, one of which is near the mouth of Hungry
Creek 25 miles up Wind River from its junction with the
Peel.

Bituminous Sands

In the Athabaska River Valley, bituminous sands, re-
ferred to as “tar sands,” outcrop along the river and its
tributary streams for 76 miles below and about 42 miles
above McMurray,: which is close to Waterways, the north-
ern terminus of the Northern Alberta Railways, and about
300 miles by rail north of Edmonton. The rocks (Me-
Murray formation) are nearly flatlying and of Lower
Cretaceous age. They rest directly on Upper Devonian
The McMurray formation has a thickness
of 180 to 225 feet, and, as shown by large-scale crossbedding,
is a deltaic deposit. The valleys of the Athabaska and
its tributaries, the Clearwater, Horse, and Hangingstone
Rivers, are cut several hundred feet below general plateau

limestones.