Montney Formation is spread over an area of 130,000 square kilometers (52,000 sq. mi) and it is located between northern Alberta and British Columbia. Many oil and gas exploration companies have been focusing on this formation since the 1950s but to find dolostone and sandstone. Both dolostone and sandstone reservoirs are located in siltstone. That meant that exploration companies had to wait until 2005 when advances in drilling made it possible for them to drill through large volumes of rock to reach the reservoirs.
It was during these exploration ventures that the Montney Formation was discovered. It was found that this carpet of natural gas is quite thick, approximately 100m to 300m in thickness but it tends to get thin towards the northeastern and eastern borders of the formation.
The formation not only has sandstone but also natural gas liquid and oil content. The reservoir features and characteristics are quite diverse but it has been found that as the pressure in the reservoir increases, the content of natural gas liquid and oil decreases. Nonetheless, Montney Gas Formation is considered to have ample natural gas to not only fulfill the requirements of Canada but also have sufficient leftover to export to the US and other nations, particularly emerging economies in Asia where the demand for natural gas is extremely high.
Natural Gas and Oil Content in Montney
The natural gas content in Montney is one of the largest in the world. It is estimated that if the annual demand for natural gas in Canada stays at the level of 2012, which was 88 billion m3, then Montney will be able to meet the demand for the next 145 years. Estimates put natural gas content to about 12,719 billion m3 and that of natural gas liquid to about 2,308 million m3.
Natural gas is an important economic commodity for Canada and the Montney natural gas feedstock is expected to rake in billions of dollars for oil and gas production companies and the Canadian exchequer. Experts believe that Montney’s natural gas production will keep increasing and that will provide not just employment to skilled workers and locals but also become of the main sources of natural gas in the country and the world. Montney is one of the world’s foremost natural gas feedstock and presently, most of the Montney Natural Gas Feedstock is being exported to the US, China, and other emerging economies, such as India.
On the other hand, oil content in Montney is considered quite large and it is expected to produce about 179 million m3.
These are just estimates and it is quite possible that the natural gas and oil content at Montney could be much higher as the entire carpet of the gas play has not been explored and drilled.
