Summary
ConocoPhillips has been steadily bulking up its Montney position over the past few years.
Overview of the Montney shale formation.
How management is setting the stage for ConocoPhillips' future production growth in the region.
ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) has been very slowly developing the Montney shale formation since exploration endeavors started up in 2009. By the end of 2017, ConocoPhillips had drilled 29 horizontal wells in the play and there has been no major change in the pace of its development activity over the past few years. That is expected to change going forward, which is why it is important to draw attention to ConocoPhillips’ Montney position now before things get going. Let’s dig in.
Overview
The Montney shale formation is situated in the northwestern corner of Alberta and the northeastern corner of British Columbia. Canada’s National Energy Board sees the formation housing 449 trillion cubic feet of marketable natural gas, 14.5 billion barrels of marketable natural gas liquids, and 1.1 billion barrels of marketable oil resources. By marketable, Canada’s NEB is referring to volumes that can be extracted in a reasonable and supposedly economical manner. That doesn’t mean the Montney shale is worth developing in the current pricing environment, but it does highlight the large resource potential the play offers upstream players.
