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(Adds names of partners in initial paragraphs and details inparagraphs four, five and eight)
CALGARY, Alberta, June 26 (Reuters) - Imperial Oil Ltd said on Friday it and partners Exxon Mobil Corp and BP Plc need more time before they can drill anexploratory well in Canadian Arctic waters and are seeking anextension to their exploration license in the region.
Pius Rolheiser, a spokesman for Imperial, said the licensefor the group's exploration parcel in the Beaufort Sea, asection of the Arctic Ocean, expires in 2020.
He said the group is asking the Canadian government for aseven-year extension so it can complete the requirements of theregulatory process and have adequate time to make a decision onhow, or when, it will drill a well in the region.
"There's a significant amount of work between where we aretoday and where we would need to be if we were to drill a wellby 2020," Rolheiser said. "It's our belief the current licenseterm provided insufficient time to do the work we believenecessary."
The decision is the latest blow to northern Canadian hopesfor a new exploration boom in the Beaufort, and for drillerslooking to wend new projects through the complicated regulatoryregime in Canada's Arctic.
The region, including the Mackenzie River Delta, could holdmore than 1.36 billion barrels of oil, according to estimates byCanada's National Energy Board, but only a handful of wells havebeen drilled there since the 1980s.
Imperial is the second oil company to put aside plans todrill in the Canadian Beaufort in the past year. But whileImperial is deferring its drilling operation, Chevron Corp said in December it has shelved its plan for a Beaufortwell because of the "economic uncertainty" brought about byfalling oil prices.
Rolheiser said Imperial has written to regulators to explainits decision and that it is still committed to carrying outexploration work in the Beaufort.
Imperial and Exxon each have a 25 percent stake in theBeaufort license while BP holds the remaining 50 percent share.The partners have two exploration properties in the region about125 kilometers (78 miles) northwest of Tuktoyuktuk, in Canada'sNorthwest Territories. (Reporting by Scott Haggett; Editing by Tom Brown, DavidGregorio and Peter Galloway)
