Calgary, Alberta - Questerre Energy Corporation ("Questerre" or the "Company") (OSE,TSX:QEC) is pleased to announce that its partner, Forest Oil Corporation (“Forest”), reported on a significant Utica shale discovery on the Company’s Yamaska licenses in the St. Lawrence Lowlands (the “Lowlands”) in Quebec. Questerre holds a 7.5% gross overriding royalty convertible into a 20% working interest on these licenses.
Forest reported results on the vertical pilot wells it completed and tested earlier this year. Test rates were up to 1 mmcf/d with a heat content of 1,027 to 1,136 BTU. The border price for this natural gas is estimated to be a $1.05 premium to NYMEX.
Forest further reported that the Utica shale has “rock properties comparable to the Barnett Shale but with premium gas price.” Utica shale gas properties were reported as follows:
Utica Barnett
Depth (ft) 2,300-6,000 4,500 – 9,000
Thickness (ft) 500 150 – 700
Clay Content (%) 15 – 26 15 – 30
TOC (%) 1.0 – 3.1 3.5 – 5.0
Gas-Filled Porosity (%) 3.2 – 3.7 3.0 – 4.8
Pressure Gradient (psi/ft) 0.45 – 0.60 0.46 – 0.50
Maturity (Ro) 1.3 – 2.0 1.0 – 2.2
Gas Price ($) NYMEX + 1.05 NYMEX – 0.53
As part of Forest’s previously announced commitment to spent $10 million to earn a 60% interest in the 113,453 acre Yamaska licenses it confirmed it will drill two horizontal wells with a four-stage fracture stimulation per well in 2008. Forest estimates the wells will cost $2.5 million per well on an ultimate program basis.
Forest further reported its estimate of the discovered resource of 93 Bcf (15.5 mmboe) per section and unrisked potential of 1.3 – 2.2 Bcf/well (0.22 mmboe – 0.37 mmboe) representing recovery efficiencies of 15-25%. Using Forest’s estimated spacing there could be approximately 800 wells on the Yamaska permits fully developed.
Michael Binnion, President and Chief Executive Officer of Questerre, commented, “The Forest Oil press release and presentation today is an important endorsement of the shale gas potential of the Lowlands. Their program is still in the pilot stage but we agree the results are very encouraging. Questerre would hold approximately 350,000 net acres in the Lowlands after earning by Talisman and Forest. This compares quite favorably to Forest Oil’s net acreage of 269,000 acres. As we were one of the first companies to recognize the potential of the Lowlands, we are confident that we have secured the premium acreage.”
Questerre Energy Corporation is a Calgary-based independent resource company actively engaged in the exploration, development and acquisition of high-impact exploration and development oil and gas projects in Canada.
For further information, please contact:
Michael R. Binnion, President
Tel: (403) 777-1185
Fax: (403) 777-1578
Email: info@questerre.com
Web: www.questerre.com