Frontier flair - thriving in northeastern B.C. is a case of 'the tougher the better'

The harsh climate, the difficult terrain and the unfavorable economics of building the Alliance Pipeline were discussed. While the project is not yet approved by the National Energy Board, the probability of it happening set off a growth surge at the pipeline's starting point in natural gas-rich northeastern British Columbia. The area was hard hit by the fall of oil and gas prices in he mid-1980s and early 1990s, but is now rebounding. The region is studded with rich gas reserves and as prices recovered in the mid-1990s industry came storming back. The region is a hotbed of activity by exploration and production firms such as Amoco, Talisman, Anderson Exploration, Canadian Hunter, Ranger Oil, Encal, Imperial, Murphy Oil, Penn West, Petro-Canada, Unocal, and others. The winter of 1998 saw 65 drilling rigs working in the area. During 1997, industry drilled 575 wells, a five-fold increase over the preceding five years. Gas industry employment in northeastern B.C. is up to 14,500, plus an estimated 23,000 spin-off jobs in sectors ranging from motels to finance. Confidence is high that approval for the Alliance Pipeline will come through and that demand for B.C. gas will increase within the next two or three years