It seems clear that money looking for a quick return is abandoning QEC for better prospects; oil, precious metals, stock exchange indexes, dividends ... no shortage of dance partners.

QEC faces plenty of headwinds in Quebec including environmental opposition to shale gas development, rising exploration costs, legislative uncertainty, rock bottom natgas prices, the unusual business and political cultures in Quebec (see latest MacLean's article) in addition to the unprecedented volitility of today's markets.

QEC may have a great future but it's not altogether a certainy and, if so, how far out that future might be. If drilling doesn't begin again until spring 2011 (at the earliest), QEC won't have much to report for at least a year from now. That's a long time for impatient money to wait.

BTW, a most interesting piece of the announcement was the reference to high costs and the inference that cost pressure will be manageable by next spring. Does this indicate that shale gas drilling and production in North America will finally be reduced to meet demand, thereby lowering exploration costs and raising the commodity price? That would be good news for QEC.