Duvernay Reserves and Resources Report

Alberta Energy Regulator
Production will likely increase if energy economics improve and stay favourable. In the meantime, it
is expected that operators will continue to pilot different completion techniques to further optimize
production and hold their lands in anticipation of market turnaround. Future development will target the
condensate-rich regions of the Duvernay.
4 Resource Classification & Categorization
Until now, the AER classified Alberta’s reserves based on the report of the Joint Task Force on Uniform
Reserves Terminology from the Inter-Provincial Advisory Committee on Energy (IPACE) in 1978. IPACE
focuses on traditional, or conventional, pools and does not fully account for the complexities of modern,
or unconventional, plays.
In 2015, the AER created a resource classification system to accommodate Alberta’s unique resource base.
Adapted from the Canadian Oil & Gas Evaluation Handbook (COGEH; SPEE, 2007) and Resources
Other Than Reserves (SPEE, 2015), the AER’s resource classification framework provides guidelines
for differentiating resources according to trapping mechanism. These broad categories allow the AER to
manage each resource independently with reserves assessment methods that are fit for purpose.
Six resource categories are identified within the framework, as shown in Figure 9.
Each resource category has a unique set of properties and requirements for characterizing the resource
and evaluating reserves. Based on this framework, the Duvernay exists primarily within the AER’s shale
resource category, and contains both shale gas and oil resource types, based on the specified trapping
mechanism of adsorption on kerogen, in addition to being present in pores and fractures. The Innisfail
assessment area may contain resource that also exists within the AER’s low permeability category (e.g.,
tight carbonates).
Figure 9. AER resource classification framework
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