Estimates of the original amount of conventional natural gas resources in Canada have increased by 60 Tcf, according to the Canadian Gas Potential Committee. In its latest report on Natural Gas Potential in Canada (2005), the committee estimated that there was 652 Tcf of conventional gas originally in place in Canada, up from a prior (2001) estimate of 592 Tcf. It also estimated that there is 227 Tcf of remaining marketable gas from conventional resources and another 11-45 Tcf of remaining marketable coalbed methane.

“We are producing a lot of gas and still managing to replace that production and then some. That’s encouraging. But that’s also a function of the price going up so smaller deposits are more economic and are being developed,” noted Vic Mroszczak, report coordinator. “The rise in price is actually helping us preserve our reserves.”

The committee estimates there was about 31 Tcf of nominal initial marketable (NIM) gas — gas expected to be produced — in the frontier area in the Beaufort Basin, which would flow into the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline. It sees about 7 Tcf of NIM gas along the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline route and about 3 Tcf of remaining marketable gas offshore Nova Scotia.

“Frontier basins — primarily offshore Nova Scotia, the Mackenzie Delta and the Mackenzie Corridor — will provide incremental supplies of gas, while remote areas face severe economic and environmental hurdles before production can contribute to Canadian supply,” the committee said in a statement. “An estimate for total original gas in place from frontier basins is 188 Tcf and for nominal marketable gas is 88 Tcf. The discovered resource has been reported as 63 Tcf of original gas, or 33% of the total, with 125 Tcf remaining undiscovered.”

For the first time, the committee estimated Canada’s coalbed methane resource. “That’s a new number. A lot of drilling has taken place to tap coalbed methane,” said Mroszczak. “Now we have methods of producing it. That’s why in this assessment we have a whole volume dedicated to unconventional gas. We see 11-45 Tcf of coalbed methane that could be produced with current technology.”

Despite the new data on coalbed gas, however, the new report excludes estimates on gas produced from shales and hydrates. “There are no numbers [on shale gas],” he said. “Nobody has proven that you can produce gas from our shale deposits yet in Canada. We do have a section in the report that covers it. But nobody has done the equivalent of the Barnett Shale here in Canada yet.

“It’s the same with hydrates. Until somebody has actually produced some gas from hydrates and shown that they can flow for a continuous period of time, we just don’t evaluate it and put numbers to it. But the next report may contain that.”

For information about the report, call (403) 263-7722, e-mail bpeterson@centreforenergy.com or go to www.centreforenergy.com. The Canadian Gas Potential Committee is a volunteer group composed of industry and government geoscientists. The committee previously published gas resource reports in 1997 and 2001.

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