Abstract

The Eagle Plain is an intermontane basin occupying about 9,500 square miles in the northern Yukon Territory. Strata of every geologic period, except the Triassic, are present in the basin; carbonates dominate the Upper Cambrian to Middle Devonian succession, while clastics predominate in the younger rocks. Oil and gas in significant quantities have been discovered in five of the 19 wells drilled in the basin in rocks of Carboniferous and Permian age, gas recovery has been obtained in Lower Cretaceous strata, and promising reservoir rocks are present in Ordovician and Lower to Middle Devonian porous dolomite facies. Average thickness of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary column is about 3.6 miles for a total volume of about 34,400 cubic miles of sediments. As a petroleum province, discoverable oil-in-place is herein estimated at 1.9 billion barrels, and possible ultimate recoverable oil reserves at 570 million barrels; possible ultimate gas reserves are estimated at 2.4 trillion cubic feet. How much of these speculative resources will be actually discovered and proved into reserves is a function of future technology and economic factors.