At Alberta’s March 25 land sale, the key plays being targeted were the Montney, Clearwater and Duvernay (water disposal).

Key highlights are outlined below:

A – Worsley: Along the northern margin of the Peace River Arch, three parcels totalling 6,016 hectares sold for a combined total bonus of $4.62 million to Mammoth Land Services, Buffalo Hill Resources Ltd. and Millennium Land. The postings primarily offered P&NG rights from the surface to the basement, except for one section containing a well with an abandoned Gething gas zone — that parcel included only rights below the base of the Bluesky to the base of the basement. In the adjacent section, Cardinal Energy Ltd. drilled Montney multilaterals in 2018. The pad, 103/11-27-087-06W6/03, produced 58 bbls/d in the first month of production.

B – Valhalla: The highest unit price paid at this land sale was $4,399/ha, bought by Millennium Land for a three-quarter section in T76 R10 W6. Along with this high-priced parcel, a section three kilometres to the west sold for $1,202/ha, bringing the area’s average to $2,800/ha. The rights acquired were P&NG below the base of the Doig to the base of the basement. Over the past five years, the Montney has been the most actively drilled formation in the area. The nearest recent Montney well, Whitecap Resources Inc.’s 13-15-076-09W6, reported last month production of 5,033 mcf/d and 225 bbls/d. For additional subsurface context, refer to the Alberta Montney exploration section in the Q4 2024 geoXPLORER newsletter.

C – Bolloque: Synergy Land Services purchased 1,344 hectares of P&NG rights from the surface to the base of the basement for a total bonus of $1.26 million. To the southeast of the posting, a southwest-northeast trending Clearwater shoreface development has been advanced by Tamarack Valley Energy Ltd., ISH Energy Ltd. and Flywheel Resources Corp. (in decreasing well count order). Clearwater wells along this trend have averaged 56 bbls/d during the first month of production.

D – Medicine River: A scattered group of sections, totalling 3,776 hectares, sold for $1.18 million to Millennium Land Ltd. in the Medicine River area on top of the Devonian Reef complex. The P&NG rights varied across the posting, although a significant portion included the P&NG rights below the base of the Mannville to the base of the basement. Paramount Resources Ltd. has recently been targeting the Duvernay to the north, but as one knows, the Duvernay is not deposited when there is Devonian reef present. However, there are both historic Leduc vertical and deviated producers nearby. The most recent Leduc activity was drilled by Medicine River Oil Recyclers Ltd. in 2014, a water disposal well, which injected 17,832,156 bbls of water between March 2015 and February 2026. Given Paramount’s recent Duvernay development and the presence of available Leduc disposal capacity, Paramount may be evaluating additional Duvernay water disposal options in the area. For additional subsurface detail, refer to the Duvernay exploration section in the Q1 2024 geoXPLORER newsletter.

At the March 25 land sale, the province sold 28,540 hectares of P&NG leases and licences for $12.85 million. Additionally, there were 1,536 hectares of oil sand rights sold for $0.11 million. This brings the total cumulative bonus paid to date for the year in Alberta to $81.58 million.

For full land sale results, click here: Alberta Collects $12.97 Million At March 25 Land Sale

Data for the map is provided by Geologic’s geoSCOUT.