Early Estimates of Quebec Utica productivity Utica Shaleedit
The Ordovician Utica Shale in Quebec potentially holds 4×1012 cu ft (110×109 m3) at production rates of 1×106 cu ft (28,000 m3) per day[8][9]
From 2006 through 2009 24 wells, both vertical and horizontal, were drilled to test the Utica. Positive gas flow test results were reported, although none of the wells were producing at the end of 2009.[10] Gastem, one of the Utica shale producers, has announced plans to explore for Utica Shale gas across the border in New York state.[11]
The Utica shale is a black calcareous shale, from 150 to 700 feet (210 m) thick, with from 3.5% to 5% by weight total organic carbon. The Utica Shale play focuses on an area south of the St. Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City. Interest has grown in the region since Denver-based Forest Oil Corp. announced a significant discovery there after testing two vertical wells.
Forest Oil said its Quebec assets may hold as much as four trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, and that the Utica shale has similar rock properties to the Barnett shale in Texas.
Forest Oil, which has several junior partners in the region, has drilled both vertical and horizontal wells.
Calgary-based Talisman Energy has drilled five vertical Utica wells, and began drilling two horizontal Utica wells in late 2009 with its partner Questerre Energy, which holds under lease more than 1 million gross acres of land in the region.
Other companies in the play are Quebec-based Gastem and Calgary-based Canbriam Energy.
The US Energy Information Administration estimated in 2013 that there were 31 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of technically recoverable natural gas in the Utica Shale in Quebec.[3]