Over $347MM has been spent on land rights in the South Duvernay oil play since January 2016. The graph shows the acceleration in land sale activity and the prices paid per ha over time. The frenzy really took off in February 2017 with parcels fetching ever-higher prices. Top dollar of $6,834/ha was paid at the December 6, 2017 land sale. The activity spread from the Cygnet and Twining sub-basins in the East Shale Basin to the West Shale Basin just west of the Rimbey-Meadowbrook reef trend, and lately to the area immediately east of the Bashaw reef (map). Over 608,000 ha (approximately 2,380 sections) of rights were leased or licensed with licences accounting for 376,500 ha (1,471 sections). CDL estimates that over 95 wells could be required to validate the acreage assuming that 15 sections can be validated with a single horizontal wellbore.
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