Shale gas in Canada
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The inclusion of unconventional shale gas with conventional gas reserves has caused a sharp increase in estimated recoverable natural gas in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Until the 1990s success of
hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...
in the Barnett Shales of north Texas, shale gas was classed as "unconventional reserves" and was considered too expensive to recover. There are a number of prospective
shale gas Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and some a ...
deposits in various stages of exploration and exploitation across the country, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia. The US Energy Information Administration estimated in 2013 that there were 573 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas in Canada.US Energy Information Administration
World shale gas
17 May 2013.


Resource law in Canada

Sir
John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
had already maintained in an 1880 Parliamentary debate that the
British North America Act of 1867 The ''Constitution Act, 1867'' (french: Loi constitutionnelle de 1867),''The Constitution Act, 1867'', 30 & 31 Victoria (U.K.), c. 3, http://canlii.ca/t/ldsw retrieved on 2019-03-14. originally enacted as the ''British North America Act, 186 ...
vested the control of the inland and sea-coast fisheries of Canada in the Dominion Government, who incurred all the expense incidental to their protection. By virtue of the insertion in 1982 of Section 92A of the BNA Act, "(1) In each province, the legislature may exclusively make laws in relation to (a) exploration for non-renewable natural resources in the province;..." The geographical limits of the jurisdiction of the provinces had been tested by the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
in ''Reference Re: Offshore Mineral Rights'', a 1967 case which involved all of the provinces that border on the ocean. The decision of the court was that the Dominion of Canada has authority over the sea and seabed; and this was later reflected by the insertion of Section 92A.


Southern Ontario

There are three major zones identified in Ontario: * the Kettle Point Formation, known in
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
as the
Antrim Shale The Antrim Shale is a formation of Upper Devonian age in the Michigan Basin, in the US state of Michigan, and extending into Ohio, Indiana and Wisconsin. It is a major Source rock, source of natural gas in the northern part of the basin. The An ...
, where it is a source of shale gas. * the Collingwood/Blue Mountain formations, known as
Utica Shale The Utica Shale is a stratigraphical unit of Upper Ordovician age in the Appalachian Basin. It underlies much of the northeastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada. It takes the name from the city of Utica, New York, as it was first de ...
* the northernmost limit of the
Marcellus Shale Marcellus may refer to: * Marcellus (name) * Marcus Claudius Marcellus, Roman commander Places * Marcellus, Lot-et-Garonne, France * Marcellus Township, Michigan ** Marcellus, Michigan, a village in Marcellus Township ** Marcellus Community Sch ...
that extends up from
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
and
New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...
. While Ontario in 2010 had 1,200 active oil wells and 1,400 active onshore and offshore natural gas wells, there was no major shale gas production as of early 2011. In 2012, a campaign against fracking was launched in Ontario.


Quebec


Utica Shale

The
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...
Utica Shale The Utica Shale is a stratigraphical unit of Upper Ordovician age in the Appalachian Basin. It underlies much of the northeastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada. It takes the name from the city of Utica, New York, as it was first de ...
in
Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
potentially holds at production rates of per day From 2006 through 2009 24 wells, both vertical and horizontal, were drilled to test the Utica. Positive gas flow test results were reported, although none of the wells were producing at the end of 2009. Gastem, one of the Utica shale producers, has announced plans to explore for Utica Shale gas across the border in New York state. The Utica shale is a black calcareous shale, from 150 to thick, with from 3.5% to 5% by weight
total organic carbon Total organic carbon (TOC) is the amount of carbon found in an organic compound and is often used as a non-specific indicator of water quality or cleanliness of pharmaceutical manufacturing equipment. TOC may also refer to the amount of organic c ...
. The Utica Shale play focuses on an area south of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City. Interest has grown in the region since Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. announced a significant discovery there after testing two vertical wells. Forest Oil said its Quebec assets may hold as much as four trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, and that the Utica shale has similar rock properties to the Barnett shale in Texas. Forest Oil, which has several junior partners in the region, has drilled both vertical and horizontal wells. Calgary-based
Talisman Energy Talisman Energy Inc. was a Canadian independent petroleum company that existed between 1993 and 2015. The company was created from the assets of BP Canada after British Petroleum divested its 57 percent stake in June 1992. It was one of Canada' ...
has drilled five vertical Utica wells, and began drilling two horizontal Utica wells in late 2009 with its partner Questerre Energy, which holds under lease more than 1 million gross acres of land in the region. Other companies in the play are Quebec-based Gastem and Calgary-based Canbriam Energy. The US Energy Information Administration estimated in 2013 that there were 31 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas in the Utica Shale in Quebec.


British Columbia

On 26 August 2015, CBC reported that the British Columbia regulator was aware of a magnitude 4.4 earthquake which had been caused by Progress Energy, a subsidiary of the Malaysian
state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a Government, government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn Profit (econom ...
,
Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad (National Petroleum Limited), commonly known as Petronas, is a Malaysian oil and gas company. Established in 1974 and wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with all oil and gas reso ...
.


Muskwa Shale

The Devonian Muskwa Shale of the
Horn River Basin The Horn River Formation (also ''Horn River Shale'') is a stratigraphic unit of Devonian (early Givetian to late Frasnian) age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It is a thick sequence of marine sediments that was first described in out ...
in northeast
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
is said to contain of recoverable gas. Major leaseholders in the play are
EOG Resources EOG Resources, Inc. is an American energy company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in the Heritage Plaza building in Houston, Texas. The company is ranked 186th on the Fortune 500 and 337th on t ...
and
Ovintiv Ovintiv Inc. is a hydrocarbon exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Denver, United States. It was founded and headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, under its previous name Encana. It was the largest energy co ...
The government of British Columbia announced lease proceeds for 2008 to be in excess of CDN$2.2 billion, a record high for the province, with the majority of the proceeds coming from shale gas prospects. The British Columbia government has granted royalty credits to companies for drilling and infrastructure development in the area. The US
Energy Information Administration The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and publ ...
estimated in 2013 that there were 145 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas in the Muskwa Shale.


Montney Shale

The Montney Shale play is in east-central British Columbia. The Montney Formation has a sandy
facies In geology, a facies ( , ; same pronunciation and spelling in the plural) is a body of rock with specified characteristics, which can be any observable attribute of rocks (such as their overall appearance, composition, or condition of formatio ...
in Western Alberta, where oil is produced in the Sturgeon Lakes and Saddle Hills areas.
Natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
is extracted from siltstone reservoir in the
Dawson Creek Dawson Creek is a city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The municipality of had a population of 12,978 in 2016. Dawson Creek derives its name from the creek of the same name that runs through the community. The creek was named after ...
and Pouce Coupe areas and gas rich silty shales occur in the northern and western fringes of the deposit.


Alberta


Duvernay Shale

The
Duvernay Formation The Duvernay Formation is a stratigraphical unit of Frasnian age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. It was first described in well Anglo Canadian Beaverhill Lake No. 2 in LSD 11-11-50-17W4M by Imperial Oil staff in 1950. The formation w ...
is considered the source rock for the Leduc reefs light oil play.
Shale gas Shale gas is an unconventional natural gas that is found trapped within shale formations. Since the 1990s a combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has made large volumes of shale gas more economical to produce, and some a ...
and
condensate Condensate may refer to: * The liquid phase produced by the condensation of steam or any other gas * The product of a chemical condensation reaction, other than water * Natural-gas condensate, in the natural gas industry * ''Condensate'' (album) ...
is produced from the Duvernay Formation in
central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordere ...
using horizontal drilling and multi-stage
hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...
. On 16 June 2015,
Andrew Nikiforuk Andrew Nikiforuk (born 1955) is a Canadian journalist and author. His writing has appeared in many outlets, including '' Saturday Night'', ''Maclean's'', ''Alberta Views'', ''Alternatives Journal'', and national newspapers. He has won multiple Nati ...
wrote that Chevron Canada had confirmed that "a magnitude 4.4 seismic event was recorded by seismic monitoring arrays operated by Chevron Canada and
Natural Resources Canada Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; french: Ressources naturelles Canada; french: RNCan, label=none)Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the depa ...
" in the Duvernay shale near
Fox Creek, Alberta Fox Creek is a town in northwest Alberta, Canada. It is located on Highway 43, approximately northwest of Edmonton and southeast of Grande Prairie, and has an elevation of . Fox Creek is within the Upper Peace planning region, and is surroun ...
. Nikiforuk is a journalist who has followed the Canadian oil and gas industry since the late 1990s.


Nova Scotia


Horton Bluff Shale

In 2009, Triangle Petroleum Corporation completed two gas wells in the Horton Bluff Formation, of the Windsor Basin,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
. The US Energy Information Administration estimated in 2013 that there were 3.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas in the Horton Bluff Shale.


New Brunswick

New Brunswick oil and gas exploration first began in 1859 in the Moncton sub-basin.cbc.ca: "IN DEPTH: N.B. shale gas industry"
26 November 2011
The first efforts for commercial production in New Brunswick were in the Stoney Creek oil field, this begun in 1909. As of November 2011, nine companies had 71 different leases to search and explore for shale gas deposits across the province and not just in the southern part of New Brunswick.cbc.ca: "Natural gas companies bank on shale's future"
28 November 2011
The province expected in 2011 to receive $21 million in royalties. Between 1990 and 2010, government statistics show 40 natural gas wells and 40 oil wells had been drilled. Another 49 wells had undergone hydraulic fracturing and nine of the wells had been drilled horizontally. Companies operating in southern New Brunswick also have relatively close access to the
Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline The Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline is a natural gas transmission pipeline that runs from the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP) gas plant in Goldboro, Nova Scotia, Canada to Dracut, Massachusetts, United States. The mainline pipeline run ...
, which was built in 1999 to transport natural gas from
Sable Island Sable Island (french: île de Sable, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island i ...
to New England. Corridor Resources announced in 2010 that it had found more natural gas in place in southern New Brunswick than is available in all of western Canada's proven reserves, and that it had nearly overlooked the gas deposit because it had considered the well a dud at first and it was abandoned for the previous 11 years. Apache Canada was in 2010 one of the first companies that began drilling horizontal wells to tap the Frederick Brook shale deposit. In June 2011 and in the wake of months of protests by citizens, Natural Resources minister Bruce Northrup unveiled new regulations on exploration that were to force producers to: * perform baseline testing on all water wells within a minimum distance of 200 metres of seismic testing and 500 metres of oil or gas drilling before operations can begin; * offer full disclosure of all fluids and chemicals used, or proposed, in the hydro-fracking process * set up a security bond to protect property owners from potential accidents Also in June 2011, Grand Chief Harry LaPorte of the
Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...
First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
worried that the controversial mining process of hydro-fracking should not be allowed in New Brunswick over fears it could harm the water supply: In August 2011, SWN operations in New Brunswick were subject to vandalism,"SWN to stop N.B. seismic testing"
19 August 2011
and in November, a teepee was erected by protestors, who were said to number 600, on the front lawn of the legislature in Fredericton. cbc.ca: "Teepee unites anti-fracking protesters"
21 November 2011
The Conservative New Brunswick government of
David Alward David Nathan Alward (born December 2, 1959) is a Canadian politician, who served as the 32nd premier of New Brunswick, 2010 to 2014. Alward has been a member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick since 1999 and has been the leader of the P ...
at the time refused to put a moratorium on shale gas development in the province; Natural Resources minister Bruce Northrup seemed to be sympathetic to shale gas development in August, but seemed not to have clarified in his own mind the distinction between public and private property. Also in August 2011, protesters at
Stanley, New Brunswick Stanley (2016 population: 412) is a village in York County, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. History Stanley straddles the Nashwaak River 30 km north of Fredericton at the intersection of Route 107 and Route 620. The area was ...
, between Fredericton and Miramichi at the intersection of Route 107 and Route 620, blockaded seismic trucks. Protesters, who were concerned that the seismic testing could lead to hydro-fracking in their communities, came from various communities, such as Penniac, Taymouth, Stanley, Rogersville and several First Nations, and began singing traditional First Nations songs once the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
(RCMP) arrived. SWN Resources, the Canadian division of
Southwestern Energy Southwestern Energy is a natural gas exploration and production company organized in Delaware and headquartered in Spring, Texas. The company is ranked 893rd on the Fortune 500. The company's primary exploration and production activities are in ...
of Houston, Texas, held at November 2011 more than 1 million hectares worth of petroleum licences in the province. As of November 2011, Corridor Resources owned five wells in the
Elgin, New Brunswick Elgin is a Canadian rural community in Albert County, New Brunswick. It is situated in the western part of the county, approximately 14 kilometres south of Petitcodiac around the intersection of Route 905, and Route 895 Elgin's economy i ...
area with viable levels of gas found in some cases. In November 2011, the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources filed a complaint with the RCMP against Windsor Energy Inc. for allegedly violating the Oil and Natural Gas Act.gnb.ca: "Complaint filed against Windsor Energy for alleged violation of Oil and Natural Gas Act"
9 November 2011
The Calgary-based company was accused of directing a contracted company to conduct geophysical exploration within the boundaries of the town of Sussex, New Brunswick without the town's permission, according to a statement by Natural Resources Minister Bruce Northrup. Under regulation 86–191 of the Oil and Natural Gas Act, a municipality's written permission is required before geophysical activity can be conducted inside the boundaries of an incorporated municipality. Northrup has previously said it is clear Windsor Energy broke the rules and did so intentionally. Its contractor, Seismotion, originally asked for town approval to do tests within the community, and councillors arranged a special meeting in October, just ahead of the company's scheduled arrival, the department found, but when Seismotion crews arrived in Sussex two days ahead of schedule, the company decided not to wait for town consent. Over the year 2012, SWN Resources increased its leasehold from 1 million hectares to 2.5 million hectares. It named new regions the Marysville Formation, the Cocagne Formation. It appeared that the lower third or quarter of the province had by then been claimed. The province measures in total 7.165 million hectares. The
Elsipogtog First Nation The Elsipogtog First Nation , formerly called the Big Cove Band, is a Miꞌkmaq First Nations band government in New Brunswick, Canada. The First Nation's territory comprises Richibucto Reserve #15, lying southwest of Rexton, New Brunswick on ...
was subject to controversy when it protested with blockades the fracking activity of SWN Resources in 2013. This protest attracted international attention, and was one of the reasons why fracking was a major issue in the 2014 New Brunswick general election. A week before the 2014 elections, Windsor Energy sued Northrup and the Government because of the statements Northrup made in 2011 to the effect that Windsor violated the province's Oil and Natural Gas Act when it conducted seismic testing in the town of Sussex. Windsor claimed Northrup was libellous when he issued a press release in November of that year, following an incident in which a Windsor subcontractor did seismic tests along Highway 1 inside Sussex town limits. Northrup said Windsor did not have permission to do the tests and had violated the act. The province then filed a complaint with the RCMP. In the statement of claim, Windsor recounts how it was cleared by the RCMP and alleges Northrup's press release was false, misleading and defamatory, and that the negative publicity drove potential investors away from his company. It was not immediately apparent how an apology issued by the company in 2011 to the mayor, councillors and people of Sussex would affect the suit. On 24 March 2015, the Gallant government appointed a three-member panel to study the hydraulic fracturing process and report back to cabinet within one year on whether the government's conditions for shale gas development can be met. Energy and Mines Minister
Donald Arseneault Donald Arseneault (born in Dalhousie, New Brunswick) is a New Brunswick politician. He is the former Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick for the riding of Dalhousie-Restigouche East. At the time one of the youngest mem ...
said that the government has a responsibility to consider the controversial method of natural gas extraction as a possible way to create jobs. Gallant appointed Guy Richard, former chief justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, to lead the commission.cbc.ca: "Fracking commission appointed to study shale gas conditions"
24 March 2015
Richard is the father-in-law of
Dominic LeBlanc Dominic A. LeBlanc (born December 14, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who has served as the minister of intergovernmental affairs since 2020 and also became the minister of infrastructure and communities in 2021. A member of the Liber ...
, a federal MP and Gallant's campaign manager in the 2014 provincial election. The conditions of the government were reported to be: * if New Brunswickers at large approve, * if there is clear and credible information about the impacts of fracking, * if there's a plan to mitigate the impacts on public infrastructure and deal with waste water, * if there is a process to consult with First Nations, * and if there is a way to maximize the local benefits, such as royalties. On 29 May 2015, Richard stepped down as head of the commission, and was replaced by Marc Leger, a career civil servant and former clerk of New Brunswick's Executive Council. The other two members are John McLaughlin and Cheryl Robertson.


Frederick Brook Shale

New Brunswick has an estimated 80 trillion cubic feet of gas locked more than a kilometre beneath the ground in the Frederick Brook Shale formation in the southern part of the province. This formation, which was created more than 300 million years ago, runs along the south shore of New Brunswick from the
Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria Canada * Hampton, New Brunswick *Ha ...
area all the way to Sackville.corridor.ca: "MacQuarie Tristone – Overview Memoraundum: Joint Venture Opportunity – Frederick Brook Shale"
In June 2010, Apache Canada began drilling a horizontal well to tap the Lower Carboniferous Frederick Brook Shale, near Sussex, New Brunswick. Apache is in a joint venture with Halifax-based Corridor Resources Inc., which has extensive leasehold in the province. Corridor has drilled two vertical wells that tested gas from the Frederick Brook. In 2013, Corridor Resources proposed a phased Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the expansion of the McCully Field in 2013 and 2014. Phase 1 was to expand the F-67 well pad by October 2013 and phase 2 began exploration and development by November 2014. In 2015, it was revealed that Contact Exploration Inc., had plans to do oil and gas exploration in Salem, near
Hillsborough, New Brunswick Hillsborough is a village in Albert County in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The village is situated on a hill overlooking the Petitcodiac River near the intersection of Route 910 and Route 114. Hillsborough is the largest settlemen ...
in the marshlands of the
Petitcodiac River The Petitcodiac River is a river in south-eastern New Brunswick, Canada. Referred to as the "chocolate river" by local tourist businesses, it is characterized by its brown mud floor and brown waters. The river has a meander length of and is lo ...
. The proposed Phased EIA was under review by the Government of New Brunswick.GNB, Record of EIA registrations and determinations. 13 March 2015


References


External links

* FracFocus Canada
Chemical disclosure registry
database of hydraulic fracturing chemicals used, on a well-by-well basis. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shale Gas In Canada Natural gas in Canada
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
Energy in Alberta Energy in British Columbia Energy in New Brunswick Energy in Nova Scotia Energy in Ontario Energy in Quebec