Resource Plays
Birdbear
Target: Heavy oil
Land Base: 15.5 gross sections (74% WI)
2011 Plan: 30 horizontal wells
Heavy oil prospects in the Birdbear formation, located in our West Central Saskatchewan area, were NuVista’s
primary focus for drilling in 2010 in our W3/W4 core region. These heavy oil wells have the most attractive
economics of NuVista’s opportunity inventory with payout in less than six months. In the fourth quarter of 2010,
NuVista drilled four successful Birdbear horizontal oil wells at Zoller Lake, which have set up a possible 16 well
development program for 2011. NuVista intends to evaluate up to 5 new Birdbear heavy oil plays in the second
half of 2011.
Notikewin/Spirit River
Target: Liquids-rich natural gas
Land Base: 240 gross sections (66% WI)
2011 Plan: 3 horizontal wells
NuVista holds approximately 158 net sections of land within the Notikewin/Spirit River prospect fairway in the
Central Pembina area. In 2011, NuVista will continue to evaluate the liquids-rich Notikewin and the Spirit River
formation in our Pembina and Ferrier areas with up to 3 wells. This emerging liquids-rich natural gas play is
economic at the current gas prices and qualifies for horizontal drilling royalty incentives. NuVista has a growing
prospect inventory with over 100 horizontal prospects identified.
Wapiti Montney
Target: Liquids-rich natural gas
Land Base: 154 gross sections (95% WI)
2011 Plan: 3 horizontal wells
NuVista holds approximately 146 net sections of Montney land holdings in the Wapiti area situated in two large
contiguous blocks. In 2010, NuVista successfully drilled its first Montney well in this region and this well’s initial
30 day production rate averaged 4.9 MMcf/d and produced approximately 30 Bbls per MMcf of free condensate
at the wellhead. In addition to the free condensate at the wellhead, the liquid content is estimated to be 60-70
Bbls per MMcf if a deep cut facility is used to process the raw gas stream. NuVista will be spending $70 million on
the Wapiti Montney resource play in the next 12 months with three delineation wells planned in the north block
and two in the south block, as well as a compressor and dehydration facility at its north block to accommodate
increased production volumes.
The Wapiti Montney play derives a significant portion of its cash flow from liquids and therefore exhibits good
economics even at current natural gas prices and is an area of increasing industry interest. Based on the results
from NuVista and industry wells, NuVista believes this play has the potential to create significant value for
shareholders over the next several years.
Wapiti Cardium
Target: Light oil and liquids-rich natural gas
Land Base: 145 gross sections (63% WI)
2011 Plan: 6 horizontal oil wells
NuVista holds 91 net prospective sections of contiguous Cardium lands containing large quantities of oil
and natural gas liquids in place in its Wapiti operating area. NuVista is exploring for light oil in the Cardium
formation and drilled 6 (3.0 net) oil wells in 2010, of all which were horizontal wells using multi-stage
fracturing technology. These delineation wells could potentially lead to multiple development locations across
a large part of NuVista’s Wapiti land base in the future. For 2011, NuVista is planning to drill up to 6 additional
Wapiti Cardium oil horizontal wells to establish the scalable nature of this play.
October 2011
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