Canadian Oil Sitting Pretty as U.S. Shale Shows Signs of Fatigue

The flagging productivity of some U.S. shale fields and expanded crude-takeaway options could be a boon for Canadian drillers, Bank of Montreal’s top energy banker said.

“In the U.S., there have been some question marks around whether some of the basins are starting to get a little bit fatigued or starting to see some of the type curves come down — we haven’t seen that in Canada,” Bradley Wells, head of energy for BMO Capital Markets, said in an interview.

Canada’s three main unconventional fields — the Montney, Deep Basin and Duvernay — “are still going strong, and obviously the oilsands are the big producer in the room, and there’s very little risk for their resource.”