Liard basin has potential to be world-beating shale gas play

By Tonya Zelinsky

 21 June 2012 22:59 GMT

US player Apache is touting Canada’s Liard basin as the “best shale gas play in the world” with the potential to contain as much as 48 trillion cubic feet of net sales gas, writes Tonya Zelinsky.

After keeping the results of its three-year exploration programme in north-east British Columbia secret until an investor day last week, the Houston-based company said one of its three pilot wells produced 21.3 million cubic feet per day over a 30-day test period.

The well was hydraulically fractured six times and is expected to produce up to 18 billion cubic feet of gas, according to Apache chief executive Steven Farris. Apache began drilling in British Columbia’s remote Liard basin in 2009.

It holds about 174,000 hectares of exploration land in the area, which is…

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