Canol could be 'a new Bakken'

Potential: The Canol shale oil play in Canada’s Northwest Territories

MGM ENERGY

By Tonya Zelinsky Calgary

 09 August 2012 22:59 GMT

Explorers are hoping that an emerging shale oil play in the Northwest Territories of Canada could prove to be as large as the Bakken light oil formation.

Estimated to contain between 2 billion and 3 billion barrels of ­recoverable crude, the Canol formation in the Central Mackenzie Valley has attracted the attention of some of Canada’s biggest players, including Husky Energy, ­Imperial Oil and Shell Canada.

An extension of the Horn River basin in British Columbia and the Duvernay shale of Alberta, the ­Canol shale is also the source rock for the nearby Norman Wells oil pool, an area that has been ­producing steadily since it was discovered in the 1920s.

Until recently, the Canol play was virtually untouchable, but…

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