Oil and Gas
Nunavut has tremendous petroleum potential. Current estimates place the reserves in the Sverdrup Basin in the High Arctic alone, equal to about 11 per cent of Canada’s total crude oil resources and 20 per cent of Canada’s natural gas resources.
Complicated resource ownership structures, high costs of development, and dated seismic data have frustrated petroleum exploration and development in the past 20 years. But as additional resources are discovered, and development technology continues to improve, the potential of Nunavut’s oil and gas industry will be realized.