utica shale economic benefits fact sheet

Questerre Publishes Utica Shale Economic Benefits Fact Sheet
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Aug. 30, 2011) -

Questerre Energy Corporation released a fact sheet on the benefits of local energy development of the Utica shale in Quebec.

"A local energy diet is not just better for our shared environment," noted Michael Binnion, President and Chief Executive Officer. He added, "Producing energy locally also creates substantial economic and social benefits. Natural gas from the Utica can be an important part of Quebec's energy diet and our fact sheet highlights the economic benefits."

He further commented, "These economic benefits will be realized locally. It is simply not possible for us to mobilize all the equipment and people from Western Canada and be profitable. We need to transfer the service sector know-how and jobs to Quebec to achieve the economies of scale that are essential to any commercial shale gas development."

The fact sheet entitled, "Economic Benefits of Utica Shale Development", discusses the increased employment, government revenue and economic value add created in Quebec by the commercial development of the Utica. This includes:

~ Between 5,000 and 19,000 new jobs that could be created each year
~ $280 million to $1.1 billion in economic value add created annually during full field development
~ In excess of $25 million in fees and property taxes on production facilities could be paid each year to municipalities.

The fact sheet also discusses the benefits of a local service sector, benefits that were excluded by the SECOR study published last fall.

According to a study conducted by the Canadian Energy Research Institute, the services industry that supplies the oil and gas producers in Canada accounts for $65 billion dollars of national GDP in 2006. It employs nearly 800,000 people or almost 10 times more than producers. "The services sector is the jobs engine of the oil and gas industry," stated Mr. Binnion. "The real economic prize for Quebec is the creation of a local services sector that could become a regional service provider for all of Eastern Canada."

In addition, improving the province's energy diet by replacing high carbon fuels with cleaner natural gas is an environmental benefit that also saves money. Local production of natural gas from the Utica will also reduce the emissions and costs associated with processing and transporting the gas from Western Canada.

Quebec accounts for just over one third of Canada's consumption of heavy fuel oil, a low grade fuel that is second only to coal as a carbon intensive fuel. By substituting natural gas for this fuel, used primarily for industrial and heating purposes, Quebec could reap the benefits both environmentally and fiscally. Furthermore, domestic natural gas production in Quebec has the potential to reduce imports of natural gas and improve Quebec's balance of trade by between $800 million to $3 billion a year.

As part of its ongoing commitment to transparency, Questerre was the first company in Quebec to disclose publicly the additives it uses in its hydraulic fracturing operations, and to make a French video publicly available that explains the processes of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Those resources and this economic benefits fact sheet are all available on the Company's website at www.questerre.com.