QEC uses BC expertise for Trenton-Black River PlayJust across the New York border, in nearby Quebec, Calgary-based Questerre Energy is preparing to drill Sainte Sophie #1, its first test into the Trenton-Black River play. Questerre currently holds more than 700,000 acres of exploration acreage in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, situated between the cities of Montreal and Quebec City. The acreage is held in 16 permits, and is grouped into six permit groups for work commitment allocations.
Sainte Sophie #1 will be drilled to 2,300 meters at an estimated cost of $C 2.1 million. The lease is prepared; Questerre is waiting for a rig that's currently drilling gas injection wells at the Saint Flavien gas field, located about 100 kilometers to the northeast. Drilled by Shell Canada in the 1970s, Saint Flavien produced 5.7 bcf of natural gas from the Ordovician Beekmantown formation before being converted to a gas storage facility.
During the 1980s and 1990s, several operators explored for the Trenton-Black River and the deeper Beekmantown formations in the St. Lawrence Lowlands. At that time, conventional wisdom involved drilling the highest, central parts of the horst blocks on the carbonate platform; conventional wisdom also involved avoiding faults that were viewed as dangerous conduits for produced water. The result of this exploration phase was a series of dry wells with little or no HTD reservoir facies. However, most wells that tested the autochthonous carbonate platform -- including many of those drilled for mineral exploration -- encountered non-commercial amounts of natural gas in the Ordovician and in shallower units.
"Sainte Sophie was never drilled, because it was so heavily faulted," explained John Brodylo, Questerre's exploration manager. Brodylo intends to drill right down the side of a wrench fault, into a collapse or sag feature. Sainte Sophie #1 will test a structural low that is seismically mapped over 31 square kilometers. According to Brodylo, this structure could contain an upside resource potential of 650 bcf.
The origins of these collapses or sags -- often described as "negative" flower structures -- are trans-tensional or strike-slip faults that are deeply rooted in the basement. Hydrothermal, high pressure brines move up these faults: When the fluids hit porosity layers -- usually high energy grainstones, packstone and wackestones -- they move laterally, preferentially dolomitizing the carbonate rock.
Brodylo is using Talisman's exploration analogs in southern Ontario and, more recently, keying in on their gas discoveries in New York.
Questerre brings a unique Western Canadian perspective to Appalachia gained during the exploration for HTD reservoirs in northern British Columbia, and has re-interpreted 3,000 kilometers of trade, proprietary and public domain 2-D seismic data.
"It's been a pretty multi-faceted approach," said Brodylo, a geologist, as he described combining the seismic data with public domain aeromagnetic data, cores, well logs and outcrop work to identify the major trans-tensional fault systems that create reservoir rocks and traps in the St. Lawrence Lowlands.
"Quebec is still a plum to be picked," said Michael Binnion, Questerre's president, who cited several fiscal drivers that attract him to Quebec