Exploration drilling commenced on the Labrador Shelf in 1971 but it was not until 1973 that gas was discovered; 30 wells have been completed--2 on the shelf off Baffin Island and 19 on the Labrador Shelf. Five gas condensate discoveries have been made in widely separated areas and four productive horizons have been established. Discoveries are: (1) Hekja--Hekja sand, deltaic Paleocene; (2) Snorri--Gudrid sand, marine Paleocene; (3) Bjarni--Bjarni sand, Lower Cretaceous, fluvial, mainly nonmarine; (4) Gudrid--Carboniferous dolomite outlier; (5) Hopedale--Ordovician dolomite outlier.

On the Labrador Shelf, Mesozoic clastics up to 5 km thick were deposited in the Erik graben. After collapse, the filled graben was covered with Cenozoic deposits. On the shelf off Baffin Island Mesozoic and Cenozoic clastics were deposited in association with submarine volcanics probably extruded from the fracturing of the Ungava transform fault zone; grabens are small and as yet not well outlined.

Traps include Paleozoic outliers, pinch-outs, drape over structural highs, and growth faults.

Future exploration off Labrador will test structures at greater depths than those already drilled, with penetration of more mature stratigraphic horizons and therefore better possibilities for oil. Farther north, off Baffin Island, because resinite constitutes up to 15% of the organic matter, oil perhaps can be found at shallower depths. Drilling will be continued for the foreseeable future to delineate known discoveries and to test the estimated 80 known remaining prospects.

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