Archived - Arctic Islands of Nunavut

Most northerly of Canada's exploration regions, the Arctic Islands of Nunavut overlie one of Canada's largest petroliferous basins: the Sverdrup Basin. Exploration activity occuring mainly in the 1970's was extensive but sparsely distributed across this huge region. Nevertheless, the 164 wells drilled discovered gas and oil resources of over 14 trillion cubic feet and 300 million barrels. Of 16 fields discovered, two are major gas fields with discovered resources estimated at 9 trillion cubic feet. These fields are two of the largest gas fields in Canada and remain undeveloped. These calls are for Crown lands falling within part of the Nunavut Settlement Area, as defined by the Nunavut Land Claim Agreement.