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Canada Bakken >> Overview

Canada Bakken Overview

The Canadian Bakken Shale play is the Canadian extension of the highly popular U.S. Bakken

Shale of Montana and North Dakota extend into Canada. Targeted for its plentiful oil reserves, the Canadian Bakken play stretches across three Canadian provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia), making it an ideal target for development due to its immense size.

The Saskatchewan Bakken is of Mississippian-Devonian age.

Latest Play Stats:

  • 2,591 wells producing currently
  • Current production of 61,373 BPD
  • 38 degree API Oil
  • 10-15% intergranular porosity
  • Permeability < one millidarcy

Source: Saskatchewan Ministry of Economy - 2015 Geological Survey

 

What is the Alberta Bakken?

The Bakken formation is a 350 million-year-old layer of rock occupying 520,000 km2 of the subsurface of the Williston Basin covering parts of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota and Western Montana.  The formation was discovered in 1953, and by 1974 it was postulated that vast amounts of petroleum (up to 500 billion barrels) were contained in the formation itself. At that time, it was not economically viable as the oil was trapped in shale (fine sedimentary rocks).

The Alberta Bakken Bakken is a Devonian Shale light oil play stretching from Southern Alberta into Montana covering a large land area (>100 miles).  Although the Bakken is the targeted zone, there is multi-zone oil potential (deepest to shallowest):

  • Nisku/Arcs
  • Bakken group (BigValley, Exshaw(lower Bakken)/Bakken and Banff (upper Bakken))
  • Swift/Reirdon
  • Mannville
  • Barons
  • Second White Specks

 

The Alberta Bakken play shares a lot of geological characteristic with the original Bakken. Horizontal multi-fracked wells will be targeting light 35-42 degree API oil at a depth ranging from 4,500 feet deep up to 7,000 feet. Those deep wells are going to be expensive starting at $4 million each.  High initial production rates are expected to be followed by high decline rates after the first year. Estimated ultimate recovery (total amount of oil to be recovered) is potentially about 185,000 barrels per well. In terms of economics, it will come close to North Dakota Bakken wells. Simply put, it will be very profitable especially with current oil prices.

Geology

Further west and north, in the balance of Alberta and northeast British Columbia, along
with northwest Montana, what the formation industry now commonly refers to as the Alberta Bakken is
technically named the Exshaw formation. Centred in the Alberta Basin, the Exshaw is more
appropriately characterized as a geologic time-equivalent formation to the Bakken formation proper of the Williston Basin. The Exshaw formation can be characterized as a black shale, which may be composed of the following:

  • Black shale upper member
  • Siltstone middle member
  • Black shale lower member

Operating Companies

More Alberta Bakken Operators