Conventional

Canadian natural gas production is expected to increase by a meager 0.2% this year and then begin to decline as conventional gas extraction in Alberta slowly falls, the Conference Board of Canada reported last week.

Canadian natural gas production is expected to increase by a meager 0.2% this year and then begin a decline as conventional gas extraction in Alberta slowly falls, the Conference Board of Canada said Wednesday.

A new contender has stepped forward to help complement the ever dwindling conventional natural gas supplies in the main Canadian producing province of Alberta — coal gasification, on a large scale.

New York-based Hess Corp. has completed sidetracking its Pony discovery in Green Canyon Block 468, which established a record for the deepest conventional core ever recovered in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Results to date in its 100%-owned discovery have been consistent with pre-drill expectations, and total hydrocarbon resource on the Hess acreage is estimated to be in the range of 100-600 MMboe. The sidetrack well, drilled approximately 2,700 feet northeast of the discovery well to a depth of 30,634 feet, encountered 280 feet of oil-saturated sandstone in Miocene age reservoirs after penetrating 60% of its geological objective. Hess said the oil bearing section in the sidetrack well is similar in thickness and quality to the equivalent interval in the discovery well, which was drilled to 32,448 feet and encountered 475 feet of oil saturated sandstone. The company will next drill an appraisal well with the Ocean Baroness rig at the Pony No. 2 location, about 7,400 feet northwest of the discovery well.

“The industry’s acreage land grab of the last five years is largely over. Virtually every conventional and unconventional gas resource play in the U.S. is totally locked up. The winners for the next 10 to 20 years have already been chosen and the losers will pay the price for years to come for being left behind.”

“The industry’s acreage land grab of the last five years is largely over. Virtually every conventional and unconventional gas resource play in the U.S. is totally locked up. The winners for the next 10 to 20 years have already been chosen and the losers will pay the price for years to come for being left behind.”

Canadian natural gas exports continue to defy conventional wisdom by growing instead of living up to consensus forecasts of production tapering off in aging fields, trade records kept by the U.S. Department of Energy show.

Calgary-based independent Nexen Inc. is finalizing agreements with four undisclosed buyers to sell conventional oil and gas properties in southeast Saskatchewan, northwest Saskatchewan, northeast British Columbia and the Alberta foothills for C$946 million (US$762 million) to pay down debt and get ready for startup of its 50%-owned Long Lake oilsands project late next year.

Calgary-based independent Nexen Inc. is finalizing agreements with four undisclosed buyers to sell conventional oil and gas properties in southeast Saskatchewan, northwest Saskatchewan, northeast British Columbia and the Alberta foothills for C$946 million (US$762 million) to pay down debt and get ready for startup of its 50%-owned Long Lake oilsands project late next year.