‘Alberta Bakken play is no Eagle Ford … yet’

'Encouraging' signs, but not quite a breakthrough

THE first two shale appraisal wells drilled in the Bakken oil play of southern Alberta have yielded “encouraging” results, but the region is not yet ready to be the next Eagle Ford, Murphy Oil chief executive David Wood said. He said the wells flowed within expectations, adding that Murphy will build on its land position in the area. Wood indicated the flow was better than his company’s economic threshold of 200 barrel a day (b/d). “I would say the first two wells would get into that bucket,” he said. The Alberta Bakken is geologically similar to the well-established Bakken play of North Dakota and Saskatchewan and has been touted by some analysts as the next big North American play. It has