Montney Formation

The formation is composed of siltstone and dark grey shale, with dolomitic siltstone in the base and fine grained sandstone towards the top. Montney has one of lowest full cycle cost of gas in North America - below USD $3/Mcf with NGL uplift. Gas is produced from the Montney Formation in both British Columbia and Alberta. Major operators include Seven Generations Energy Ltd., Progress Energy Canada Ltd. (a subsidiary of Malaysia's PETRONAS), Painted Pony Energy Ltd., Royal Dutch Shell plc, Encana Corporation, Murphy Oil Corporation, ARC Resources Ltd., and Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. and oil is produced from the formation in Northern Alberta. Horizontal drilling and extensive fracturing process is necessary to have the fluid flow through the low permeability siltstone. Shale gas extraction emerged in the late 2000s in the distal facies of the formation's western extent. ==Hydraulic fracturing in Canada==

Massive hydraulic fracturing has been widely used in Alberta since the late 1970s. The method is currently used in development of the Cardium, Duvernay, Montney and Viking formations in Alberta, Bakken formation in Saskatchewan, Montney and Horn River formations in British Columbia. ==Distribution==

The Montney Formation reaches maximum thickness in the foothills of the northern Canadian Rockies at , and thins out towards the north up to the Fort Nelson area and towards the east to Peace River. ==Relationship to other units==

Montney Formation is unconformably overlain by Jurassic or Cretaceous beds such as the Doig Formation or Fernie Group and unconformably underlain by the Permian or Carboniferous strata such as the Belloy Formation. ==References==