E Canadian Producer Confirms Process Underway to End Fracking Ban

Corridor Resources, which has natural gas assets in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick, confirmed June 5 that the provincial government had started the process to lift a moratorium on fracking in the Sussex region, where most of its shale gas assets are located.

The move to selectively end the moratorium was revealed earlier this week in media reports. They had quoted New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs as saying that regulatory changes to lift the moratorium in Sussex had been pushed through by an order-in-council last month.

“We have been advised that the government has commenced the process to allow for exemptions to the moratorium on a regional basis,” Corridor said in a statement. “We understand the government intends to conduct a consultation process with New Brunswick First Nations prior to considering any application by a proponent for an exemption to the moratorium.”

Corridor produced about 5.4mn ft³/day of conventional dry natural gas from its McCully field in 2018 under a strategy of shutting in production except during the winter heating season, when demand – and prices – make production more valuable. Under this strategy, production in December 2018 averaged nearly 12mn ft³/day.

Underlying the tight sandstone of the McCully field is the Elgin sub-basin, where Corridor’s Frederick Brook shale assets are located. At a thickness of up to 1,100 metres and covering an area of about 120,000 acres, Corridor’s best estimate of its unrisked shale gas resource in the Frederick Brook has been calculated at some 48 trillion ft³.

It is this asset that Corridor would develop using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking technologies, once the moratorium is lifted, the company said.