Shale gas plays may get boost from oil

Generally speaking, producing shale gas is a complicated, expensive process that usually operates on slender economic margins, and with the price of natural gas at such odds with the price of oil, this news is rather significant. According to Canada's Globe and Mail, Quicksilver Resources Inc., has announced that it has found an area of "significant mobile oil saturation" beneath its entire Horn River lease (and likely beneath the leases of other Horn River players, who so far have been silent on the subject). Quicksilver says the oil is located about halfway between the surface and the deposit of gas shale it intends to develop. Oil associated with shale rock is known for being extremely difficult to produce, but the company thinks this oil is mobile enough that it might be able to use horizontal drilling techniques to enhance production. A test well is being planned for later this year. Quicksilver says that while it doesn't expect the testing will result in a major strike, it is very optimistic that the oil, if proven viable, would boost the economics of its Horn River play. Read much more, including a good deal about why this development is important to shale gas producers, here.