Technological improvements in drilling into natural gas basins in Western Canada means initial production rates should increase through 2017, a regulator said. The National Energy Board said average initial production rates in gas basins in the area declined from 2000 to 2006 as most operators focused on conventional deposits. Since 2007, operators have started focusing on reserves locked in shale basins , which are harder to exploit. “Because these tight and shale formations tend to have higher initial production rates than the mature conventional resources of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, the overall average initial production rates started increasing,” the NEB said in a report. “This upward trend to all initial production rates is expected to continue through 2017.” A forecast […]