Petroleum and Environmental Management Tool (PEMT) – Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta

The Beaufort Sea and Mackenzie Delta dataset comes from the Petroleum and Environmental Management Tool (PEMT). The online tool was decommissioned in 2019 and the data was transferred to Open Data in order to preserve it.

The PEMT was originally developed in 2009 to help guide development in the Canadian Arctic by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC). The online tool mapped the sensitivities of a variety of Arctic features, ranging from whales to traditional harvesting, across the Arctic. The tool was intended to aid government, oil and gas companies, Aboriginal groups, resource managers and public stakeholders in better understanding the geographic distribution of areas which are sensitive for environmental and socio-economic reasons.

The study area and analytical resolution was defined using the oil and gas leasing grid within the Beaufort Sea. The study area has been the scene of oil and gas exploration activity since 1957. Oil was first discovered at Atkinson Point in 1969 and major gas fields in the early 1970s. Such finds spurred the proposal of the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline in 1974 and the addition of exploration and investment offshore. Exploration and drilling continued both onshore and offshore until the mid-1970s with the release of the Berger Report, which recommended a 10-year moratorium on the construction of the pipeline. After the release of the Berger Report, the pace of onshore activity declined but offshore exploration escalated in the 1980s. Offshore exploration was facilitated with innovative operating techniques and new offshore platforms that extended the ability to operate in the short open-water season and ice. With the minor exception of the small onshore gas field at Ikhil, no oil or gas has been commercially produced in the area.

DISCLAIMER: Please refer to the PEMT Disclaimer document or the Resource Constraints - Use Limitation in the Additional Information section below.

Note: This is one of the 3 (three) datasets included in the PEMT application which includes the High Arctic and Eastern Arctic datasets.