193

No. 3 well was located near No. 2, and was drilled to a depth of 706 feet,
not deep enough to reach the gas encountered in No. 2 well.

None of these wells was carried deep enough to afford a test of the oil
and gas possibilities of this area.

LIARD RIVER VALLEY

Oil possibilities of the Liard River Valley have been discussed by
Kindle (1944). As possible source beds, he mentions Paleozoic limestones,
shales, and sandstones, Triassic black, marine shales and impure limestones,
and Lower Cretaceous shales. He notes that on Beaver River the Permian
sandstones are comparatively porous and are overlain by shale. Impure
sandstones of the Triassic Toad formation are also suggested as possible
reservoir rocks. Sandstones of the Scatter formation are considered
by him to be more porous than sandstones in older formations. Sandstones
and grit conglomerates of the Fort Nelson formation are also included by
him among the more porous beds.

No oil seepages are recorded by Kindle. Gas is escaping from a spring
near the east bank of Brimstone Creek, 3 miles above its mouth. He
considers that it is probably sulphurous. Similar fumes are escaping
from beds along the axes of anticlines of Lépine and Crusty Creeks.

Kindle concludes that ‘‘the area is situated favourably with respect to
possible source rocks and structures that aid accumulation of oil, but the
actual presence or absence of oil in the area has not been established and
can only be determined by future work’.

DAWSON CREEK—POUCE COUPE GAS FIELD

Gas has been produced from the Triassic in a well drilled in sec. 11,
tp. 81, rge. 17, W. 6th mer., about 20 miles northwest of Dawson Creek.
Preliminary tests give a flow of 416,000 cubic feet a day. Gas has also been
obtained from the Lower Cretaceous in other wells in this part of British
Columbia, but nearer the Alberta border.

East of Pouce Coupé, in Alberta, a gas area is indicated (Hume and
Ignatieff, 1948). Five wells have been drilled. In one the gas flow is
small, but in the others it ranges from 5,000 Mef. to 32,000 Mcf. Hume
and Ignatieff estimate a “probable” gas area of nearly 10 square miles.
Production is from the Lower Cretaceous Fort St. John group and from a
depth of about 2,100 to 2,200 feet. A small showing of oil was obtained
from the Triassic strata in one well, the Guardian No. 1, at a depth of about
4,774 feet.