I've been spending some time lately looking at the Horn River Basin, in far northeastern British Columbia. The Horn River lies between the Liard Basin and the Slave Point platform, in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Shales in the Horn River basin appear to be prime exploration targets. The Muskwa and Horn River formations form a 600-foot-thick package of organic rich, siliceous shales found at reasonable depths of some 6,500 feet. This wedge of sediment is thermally mature, loaded with total organic carbon, and contains high percentages of silica. Additionally, areal extent of the play is vast: researchers have pinpointed an area of 2,404 square miles where all the elements needed for commercial shale-gas production appear to coincide. Total gas-in-place estimates in this piece of the Horn River Basin range to as high as 600 trillion cubic feet. For more on this fast-developing play, check out British Columbia's oil and gas division website by clicking here. by Peggy Williams, Senior Exploration Editor, Oil and Gas Investor Contact me at pwilliams@hartenergy.com