In Alberta, companies are required under provincial rules to submit well cores - including bitumen, shale gas and oil - for cataloging by the AER at the repository no more than three months after they are pulled from the ground.

Instead, explorers there must grapple with privately held mineral rights that keep data confidential. No equivalent exists in the United States.

The provincial stockpile is an anomaly among oil-producing jurisdictions. “That’s the only record we have of those deposits until new stuff is drilled,” Mr. Similarly, much of the core used to evaluate Alberta’s Cardium tight oil pool was originally cut in the 1950s. Todd Korol for National Postĭrilling targets change fast: 20 years ago, officials in charge of the core warehouse nearly threw out the shale rock to free up space. “Nobody would take a swing at the Duvernay if they didn’t have a bunch of core to look at before hand,” said Kevin Parks, vice-president, geology, in the environment and reserves branch at the provincial regulator. Article contentīased on core sampling done at the CRC, the Duvernay formation, which cuts across much of north-central Alberta, may hold 443 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, 11.3 billion barrels of natural gas liquids and 61.7 billion barrels of oil, at mid-point estimates, Alberta’s Geological Survey has estimated. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

How to get core samples for free