Beaufort discovery short of Devon's hopes

The Paktoa exploration well in the Canadian Beaufort Sea didn't meet Devon Energy Corp.'s size expectations, company Pres. John Richels said earlier this month.

May 12, 2006

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, May 12 -- The Paktoa exploration well in the Canadian Beaufort Sea didn't meet Devon Energy Corp.'s size expectations, company Pres. John Richels said earlier this month.

"The well encountered hydrocarbons but not the trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that we were looking for," Richels said during Devon's first-quarter conference call.

The company will file for a significant discovery license "so that we can hold the mineral rights in the area in perpetuity," he said.

Richels gave no details. Paktoa, in 40 ft of water on EL 411 west of Beluga Bay, was programmed to drill to 13,500 ft with geologic targets in the Kugmallit, Richards, and Taglu formations. It is the first well to be drilled in the area in more than 15 years.

Devon is sifting through the large amount of data obtained from the drilling to determine the future direction of its exploration program, Richels said. The drill site is almost directly north of the boundary between Yukon and the Northwest Territories.