Core program indicates Saskatchewan oil shale potential

Questerre Energy Corp., Calgary, said results from the second core hole program on its oil shale acreage at Pasquia Hills in east-central Saskatchewan exceeded expectations.

The results confirm that the acreage overlies a well-established oil shale deposit, and the company said it plans to commission an independent resource assessment early next year. Questerre said it will use Red Leaf’s EcoShale process to convert the resources into reserves.

Red Leaf is securing final permits and should begin work in the field for the first commercial scale capsule this December, Questerre added.

The six-well core program was completed in fall 2012 on the eastern block of Questerre’s acreage. Questerre recovered 653 m of good quality core and ran a full suite of logs over the target Second White Specs shale.

All the wells drilled encountered the target formation with a minimum thickness of 26 m and a maximum of 59 m. The first 10 wells on the western block recovered a combined total of more than 30 m of core.

Preliminary results of modified Fischer assay conducted by an independent laboratory on 180 m of core samples indicates grades of 10-17 gal/ton with select intervals from some wells averaging 15-18 gal/ton in an interval of up to 10 m and individual samples of over 26 gal/ton. Another independent laboratory will verify the results.