Where to go from here?

It's great to see that the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline has been approved by Canada's National Energy Board.  It's possibly the most significant regulatory step in a mega-project that's been more than three decades in the making, and that means that in terms of planning and permitting, we're reaching the home stretch.

The question is, what happens now?  It may be as much as two years before Imperial Oil announces whether or not it will build the line, but that doesn't mean the region lies dormant.  Gas exploration in the Mackenzie Delta was fairly active a few years ago, but has dwindled to nearly nothing in the past year as exploration companies became wary of the regulatory process.  It's safe to say that exploration should pick up as early as 2011.  While many critics still point to supposedly abundant shale gas, there are still some questions to be answered about just how economical this gas is, and how easy it is to recover in an environmentally responsible manner.

As well, shale doesn't really solve the issue of declining conventional reserves in Western Canada the way Delta gas might.

The shovels aren't yet in the ground, but we're getting closer.