Outrider Energy Withdrawing from Telkwa Coalbed Gas Project
COMMENT: Good news at the beginning of a new year: yet another small-play coalbed methane projects bites the dust in British Columbia.
97% of BC's estimated coalbed methane resource is contained in three areas of the province - northeast, southeast and Klappan/Groundhog in the northwest. The remaining three percent is in tiny plays, frequently near or under towns all across the province.
None of these small plays have attracted any interest from large companies. Instead, small outfits, most with no professional competence or financial capacity have occasionally bit at the suite of financial inducements offered by the provincial government.
A few have come, such as Petrobank in Princeton, Forum in Merritt, VW Vulcan in Courtenay, Outrider in Telkwa. And all have gone. The resource is too uncertain, the community unwelcoming, the potential payback hardly worth the effort.
In its new energy plan, expected in February, the provincial government has a choice.
The government should recognize the failure of its efforts to attract industry and the near complete resistance to coalbed methane development in communities, and let it go. No more heavy government intervention in promoting these projects. No more financial inducements.
The frightening choice is that government will ramp up efforts to make these small projects happen. These projects have so much risk and so little potential payback, that British Columbia could really make headlines for an imaginative new coalbed methane fiscal regime: a negative royalty. "We'll pay you to plunder."
Outrider Energy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JANUARY 5, 2007
Outrider Energy Withdrawing from Telkwa Coalbed Gas Project
Calgary – Outrider Energy is withdrawing its participation in the tenure application for a proposed Telkwa Coalbed Gas Project. Effective immediately, Outrider Energy will cease any further involvement in the Telkwa project proposal and associated tenure discussions.
“We fundamentally believe the proposed Telkwa project can and will be developed in a safe and responsible manner,” says Burns Cheadle, President of Outrider, “but it is in the best interest of our shareholders to focus our efforts on our immediate opportunities”.
“Outrider has put in significant time and effort to understand and address community issues and establish the necessary community partnerships, but it appears this process will take considerably longer than originally anticipated,” says Cheadle. “In order to address the environmental concerns, exploration activities need to be conducted to understand the coal and water geology of the area as well as the economic potential of the resource.”
Outrider believes that the Telkwa project can contribute to the Bulkley Valley’s economic diversification and vitality, but attempting to answer the community’s concerns in advance of exploration activities will extend the project timeline beyond the Company’s investment parameters.
The decision to withdraw was made as part of the Company’s ongoing assessment of all of its energy projects to ensure the best allocation of its corporate capital and resources.
“I wish to thank all those in the community who took the time to find out more about Outrider and seek our assistance in addressing any concerns they had” says Cheadle. “Your interest in working together to ensure the responsible development of coalbed gas in the region is to be commended.”
About Outrider Energy Ltd. Outrider Energy Ltd. is a private Alberta corporation formed to pursue exploration and development of unconventional energy resources, such as natural gas from coal (NGC), fractured shale gas, and shale oil. Outrider has project lands in Western Canada and is actively exploring for additional opportunities for development of energy resources.
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For more information contact:
Burns Cheadle
President
Outrider Energy Ltd.
www.outridernrg.com
(403) 232-0264