I bet you anything Norway misinterprets this as the shale being put on hold...when it is actually just the pipeline and seismic...which wasn't going to go ahead until late 2011 anyway...great chance to get in cheap come morning. These guys always read news wrong and don't understand. The two wells are going to be fraced, that we know, then we will move accordingly.

I hope that QEC uses this chance to buy as much as they can here!

Anyway, this is what Jason (from QEC) replied to me with when I asked him about recent developments etc:

Talisman is expected to wait on the results from the remaining two horizontal wells and new hydrocarbon legislation prior to investing any additional capital to drill further wells. These prerequisites are essential before Questerre and Talisman commit to a much larger well program in Quebec.

The timing of the multi-well pad will all depend on the timing of the well tests and the legislation. It is important for the government to realize that efficient and effective regulation and a stable fiscal environment much like Pennsylvania, Texas, Arkansas and other successful US shale jurisdictions are essential. To announce a program without the regulations/royalties could signal to the government that they were not important. When in fact, these are vital. To prove the commerciality we will need to make a $300-$500 million investment to bring costs down to economic levels and production up. A service sector and the new regulation will be very important in this regard.

The decision by Talisman to delay the completions to this year was a disappointment to us. While the costs were higher, we felt it was a worthwhile investment.

In the early stages of commercializing a shale play, bringing in a partner is challenging as the value of the new wells is not production, but in the technical information on drilling, completions, rock properties etc. So Talisman would go penalty (not participate in the new wells but would still get the data. Plus the independent operations (where Talisman would not participate) would be on a well by well basis. Since Talisman has a 75% working interest, the real objective would be for Talisman to bring in a partner (not unlike what they have done in the Montney or the Eagleford) to accelerate the work.

Jason