Land sales surge in Alberta as producers rush into new shale pocket: Reuters

Alberta oil and gas land sales have reached levels not seen since 2014 thanks to a rush to buy land in an oil-rich pocket of the Duvernay shale play that was until recently written off as being uneconomic, Reuters reported. Vesta Energy, one of two private companies leading the land purchases, last week secured $305 million in financing led by private equity firms Riverstone Holdings and JOG Capital. Resurgent land prices are a rare bright spot for Canada's energy industry, dominated by northern Alberta's oil sands projects, a sector that global companies have withdrawn from this year because of high costs and slow returns on capital.

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