Whether Northern Cross goes ahead with oil exploration drilling on Eagle Plain this year is up in the air, says the company president.

"We are wrestling with that right now, in terms of our ability to get it done on time, in the time frame available," David Thompson said in an interview this week from his Calgary office.

Approval for the drill program was given last Friday by the Yukon government.

That followed a recommendation from the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board.

The board recommended the project could proceed under a range of conditions, primarily aimed at minimizing disturbance to the wildlife and habitat, and preventing permanent damage along the winter road access.

The recommendation was forwarded by the board to the Yukon government, because the application was for the use of Yukon land.

"We appreciate the work that has gone into this decision, but we will have to look at the time frame available."

Thompson said he expects the decision allowing the company to proceed with two drill holes can be rolled into the next winter if they don't go ahead this winter.

Even if the company does proceed this winter, he pointed out, there would only be time for one hole.

Northern Cross has until April 15 to complete its proposed drill program, or earlier if weather conditions bring about an earlier thaw.

The approved proposal involves the use of a 16.6-kilometre winter road to the first well site east of the Dempster Highway, using 13.7 kilometres of existing trail and seismic line, and 2.7 kms of newly-constructed winter access.

The second site west of the Dempster involves access along 6.8 kilometres of existing trail and seismic lines, with the need for 2.3 kilometres of new access.

Thompson explained the proposed drill work is part of the company's overall commitment to spend $20 million exploring for oil and gas on the Eagle Plain over the next six years.

As the result of last year's public competition exploration rights on a portion of Eagle Plain, the company was awarded 13 specific leases tied together over 4,772 square kilometres.

The government required a 25 per cent deposit, or $5 million to secure the leases and promise of expenditures.

"We have an obligation to do exploration work, and we plan to do that," Thompson said. "We are very much in a resource assessment phase, and that involves doing exploration."

The Yukon Conservation Society asked the assessment board's designated office in Dawson City to reject the application, as well as pointing to technical concerns and omissions with Northern Cross's application.

The society is opposed to any development proposals for the Peel River watershed prior to the completion of a land use planning exercise, which is well underway.

The area in question, the society points out, is in the heart of the winter range for the Porcupine caribou herd, which is believed to be in decline.

"To permit large-scale industrial development in their winter range while the status of the herd is uncertain goes against the precautionary principle," Lewis Rifkind, the society's energy co-ordinator, writes in the submission to the board.

Northern Cross's interest in the Eagle Plain area goes back to the late 1990s, when it tested its crude oil in diesel generators operated by Yukon Energy.

There was, at the time, a proposal estimated at $30 million, to establish a small refinery that could provide the Yukon market with diesel and home heating fuel, though the proposal fell dormant in subsequent years.

Northern Cross, however, revitalized its interest in the project in 2005 with the rising price of crude oil.