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The Beginning of Montney Mania (May 8, 2021 Petro Ninja - Enlighten Geoscience WotW)



This is the sixth post in a series detailing how Resource Plays (basin-wide plays where hydrocarbons are the continuous phase) have often driven the Canadian oil and gas industry throughout its history. Links to the previous posts are provided at the bottom of the post.


Resource Play: Montney Deep Basin Gas

Type Well Well UWI: 100/13-05-075-07W6/00

Drilling/Completion Technology: Rotary/Vertical/Hydraulically Fractured


The Montney Resource play didn't start with Montney coquina oil wells in the vicinity of Fox Creek. Neither did it start in 2008 with multi-stage fractured horizontal wells. It started as a series of vertical gas wells. A company named Conwest Exploration did such a good job of breaking open a new exploration play that they were purchased by AEC (which begat Encana, which begat Ovintiv).


Seemingly out of nowhere, Conwest began drilling gas wells in the Montney formation of west-central Alberta. It might have seemed anomalous to produce gas from siltstone with high gamma ray readings and low porosity and permeability. Admittedly, they were targeting a facies that was soon recognized as a turbidite with higher general porosity and permeability.

Correlations after Davies et al. (2018)


And these wells were very good. Case in point is the 100/13-05-075-07W6/00 well. While 13-5 might might not be, sensu stricto, the Montney discovery well, it is the first Montney well licenced in the general play area. And it was an impressive opener for a new play with an initial rate of 4 mmcf/d and over 6 bcf of cumulative production.




As to whether or not this is a resource play, it ticks all the boxes for a Lower Pressure Deep Basin:

  • gradual production decline

  • sub-hydrostatic pressure gradient of 8.5 kPa/m

  • very low water production

  • widespread resource distribution

A pretty impressive start for a play that, after extensive mapping, is recognized as one of the largest Resource Plays in North America.


References


Davies, G. R., Watson, N., Moslow, T. F., and MacEachern, J. A., 2018. Regional subdivisions, sequences, 7 correlations and facies relationships of the Lower Triassic Montney Formation, west-central Alberta to northeastern British Columbia, Canada — With emphasis on role of paleostructure. Bull. Can. Pet. Geol. 66, 23–92.



Previous Posts


March 13, 2021 Petro Ninja - Enlighten Geoscience WotW: The Deep Basin Era: 100/10-01-070-10W6/00 https://www.enlightengeoscience.com/single-post/march-13-2021-petro-ninja-enlighten-geoscience-wotw-the-deep-basin-era

February 21, 2021 Petro Ninja - Enlighten Geoscience WotW: 100/04-16-048-08W5/00 https://www.enlightengeoscience.com/single-post/well-of-the-week

February 6, 2021 Petro Ninja - Enlighten Geoscience WotW: Another Oil Resource Play: https://www.enlightengeoscience.com/single-post/february-6-2021-petro-ninja-enlighten-geoscience-wotw-another-oil-resource-play


January 16, 2021 WotW - Historical Drivers of the WCSB Industry: Introduction: https://www.enlightengeoscience.com/single-post/historical-drivers-of-the-wcsb-industry-introduction



January 29, 2021 WotW - First Oil Well in Western Canada: https://www.enlightengeoscience.com/single-post/january-29-2021-wotw-first-oil-well-in-western-canadahttps://www.enlightengeoscience.com/single-post/january-29-2021-wotw-first-oil-well-in-western-canada


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