Chevron’s Duvernay assets are in focus as the company is believed to be exploring a potential sale. A recent article in the BOE Report suggested a few mid-sized Canadian companies that were likely to be following the sales process closely.
While Chevron’s process will likely take some time, another non-Canadian company appears to be using this time to see what it has in its own Duvernay assets. PetroChina Canada recently licensed 4 Duvernay wells at Kaybob South, west of Fox Creek. Whether these licences are just business as usual or are somehow related is anyone’s guess, but it was notable given these are the first Duvernay licences for PetroChina in about a year and a half.
The Duvernay has not been a focus area for PetroChina since closing a transaction with Ovintiv to assume full ownership and operatorship in 2020. Over the last 3 years, PetroChina has only licensed 19 Duvernay wells (including these 4), and has only spud 10 Duvernay wells. PetroChina’s last Duvernay spud was about a year ago, while production from PetroChina’s Duvernay assets are believed to be ~13,000 BOE/d.
Pictured below (Figure 1) are the Crown mineral rights (all formations) held by Chevron (red) and PetroChina Canada (green).
Figure 1
