Drop in Oil Prices Means No Drilling in Canada’s Biggest Shale Reserves
by Robert Tuttle (Bloomberg News) The news was bittersweet for Canada’s Northwest Territories. While the region found out last week that its Canol and Bluefish formations hold Canada’s largest shale oil reserves, the slump in prices means no one’s drilling there any more.
Exploration in Canol shale costs three to four times more than in northeast British Columbia, as the remote region lacks roads and infrastructure, said John Hogg, former vice president of exploration and operations for MGM and current president of Skybattle Resources Ltd., a consulting company. A 500 to 800 barrel-a-day horizontal well may be profitable with oil at $75, he said in a phone interview Monday. Benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil traded near $58 a barrel Tuesday. READ MORE and MORE (OilPrice.com)