The Parsons Lake natural gas field is in the Mackenzie Delta, about 75 kilometres northeast of Inuvik and about 55 kilometres southwest of Tuktoyaktuk. This natural gas reservoir is about three kilometres below the surface.

The Parsons Lake gas field is held 75% by ConocoPhillips and 25% by ExxonMobil.

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Artists conception at this time

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Artists conception at this time

The Parsons Lake field has two main development areas: the north pad and the south pad. The north pad is located at the north end of Parsons Lake and will be the largest pad, containing wells and a gas conditioning facility. The conditioning facility will separate the natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and water. Then, dehydrators will dry the gas and the NGLs and a cooling system will chill them both. The dry and chilled gas and NGLs can then be placed in a buried pipeline. This pipeline goes from the north pad to the Storm Hills junction of the Mackenzie Gas Project Gathering System. In the future, compression will be added at the north pad to 'push' the gas into the pipeline. The south pad is located in south of Parsons Lake and will be a small pad containing only wells and a heater. The south pad will be built later as its production will be used to keep the north pad gas conditioning facility operating at full capacity. The production from the south pad consists of natural gas, NGLs and water. Because of the water, a heater is needed to keep the production flowing and the flow line from the south pad to the north pad will be an elevated, above ground line. The flow line will be in the same right of way as the buried pipeline from the north pad.

A number of wells will need to be drilled to produce the natural gas from the Parsons Lake field. The wells will be drilled directionally from the north and south pads to lessen the amount of land disturbed. In addition, both pads will be constructed on areas that were previously old well sites from the 1970s. However, in the future it may be necessary to construct a satellite well pad or pads to reach natural gas not accessible from either of the two initial pads.

Subject to regulatory approval, construction of the north pad site is expected to start within 4 to 7 years. Drilling would start and continue 2 to 4 years after. Field production is targeted to begin once other components are completed. There will be construction and drilling in the future for the south pad and north pad compression facilities.

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