Junex and Gestion Bernard Lemaire are partners at equal share in the exploration permit of Galt covering a total area of 16,803 acres. During the last years, Galt partners carried out exploitation of Galt #1 well, and they completed drilling of Galt #2 and Galt #3 wells. These three drillings have allowed us to determine that the hydrocarbon production area of Galt deposit is located a little bit deeper than 2,000 meters, in slightly porous limestones but fractured and altered by hydrothermal fluids (HTD). We can compare the exploration model of Galt deposit to those of many oil and gas deposits in dolomitised Devonian limestones in the West of Canada, such as Slave Point Formations (Ladyfern) or Nahanni (Kotaneelee).

Current works allow us to notice that, in this area, the hydrocarbon saturated column is thicker than 2,000 meters, which means that from a depth of 700 meters, each porosity of the rocky massive contains hydrocarbons (gas, oil or condensates). The contact between hydrocarbons and water has never been met in spite of drilling as deep as 2,700 meters. The different exploration and development works carried out during the last years led to the expansion of an exploration model aiming the exploitation of this important hydrocarbon column.



Considering this point of view, Junex and its partner Bernard Lemaire have started the drilling of the well Junex-Lemaire-Baillargeon #1, in 2006. The objective of this drilling, located 5km south to the first three completed wells in the region, was the testing of a collapsing zone which could be dolomitised at the top of limestones of Indian Cove. The well was completed at the end of the year as it was drilled 1,500 metres in depth. Occurrence of natural gas and petroleum were met during drilling and tests performed after the drilling allowed us to identify two interesting zones with signs of petroleum and gas as deep as 1,345 and 1,445 meters. In 2007, Junex and its partner will complete the tests performed to evaluate the productive capacity of Baillargeon #1 well. The results of these tests will determine future works to be done for this project.

Natural gas production

Two of the four wells drilled in the area are currently producing hydrocarbons; they are the Galt #1 and Galt #3 wells. Since no gas infrastructure is present in Gaspésie, the gas is produced directly from the wells and then transported by pipeline down to a compressor station located along Road 198. The gas is then compressed into trucks before being shipped to the customer via road transportation. Since 2002, Junex has supplied in natural gas the Gaspé Smelter of Murdochville and the Pêcheries Marinard of Rivière-au-Renard. For the moment, Junex is looking for a new customer for its natural gas produced from the wells Galt #1 and Galt #3 which have a cumulative production capacity of approximately 35 to 40 thousand cubic feet (mcf) per day.

Light oil production

In addition to the gas production, the wells in the Galt area also produce light oil. During the summer 2005, Junex had installed a pumping unit at the Galt #3 well in order to begin production and, during through the course of the year 2005, the well has produced a total of 1065 barrels of light oil. In 2006, a total of over 1,300 barrels has been produced and sold to the Ultramar Refinery in Québec. The production capacity of this well is estimated at approximately 5 barrels per day.

It is to be noted that the wells in the area of Galt have never been the object of massive fracturation work. It is believed that this type of stimulation work could increase the production capacity of the wells.