Oct 16 (Reuters) - Clarus Securities initiated junior oil and gas company Questerre Energy Corp with a "speculative buy" rating, saying the company has the best exposure to the Utica shale, which the brokerage expects would prove to be a commercial resource play.

Analyst Victor Rodberg said Questerre has the largest land position in the Utica shale of Quebec's St. Lawrence Lowlands, with 336,000 net acres in the region which could yield nearly 1,200 potential drilling locations and more than 1.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas.

"Owning this stock is an excellent way to participate in this emerging shale play," Rodberg, who set a target price of C$5.85 on the company's stock, wrote in a note to clients.

Rodberg said Questerre, which is partnering Talisman Energy Inc in a pilot program to drill two horizontal wells in Utica, is also sitting on a fully funded balance sheet to see it through the full pilot phase.

Rocket