It seems like a well-kept secret – an estimated 5 billion barrels of light, sweet oil in North America that is found in a 130- to 160-foot-thick formation that’s about 2,100 feet deep and can be tapped by relatively short horizontal drilling techniques.

The Viking formation occurs in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin through Alberta and Saskatchewan and is one of the largest established unconventional light-oil prospects. According to a Macquarie Capital Markets Canada report, horizontal drilling and multistage fracturing have made it a highly viable oil reserve. The Macquarie ...