Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Buffalo Potash’s first well, near Disley, northwest of Regina on Jan. 28. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
February is historically the busiest time of the year for drilling rigs, so here’s a snapshot of what’s happening in the field on Feb. 2:
Across Saskatchewan, there were 39 rigs working.
Starting in northwest Saskatchewan, there were nine rigs working in the region (using Macklin as the dividing line between northwest and west central). Cenovus employed Precision Drilling rig 197 at Spruce Lake and Pd Rig 198 south of Paradise Hill. Two rigs is a relatively low number for Saskatchewan’s largest oil producer.
Strathcona Resources had Pd Rig 188 at Meota and Ensign Rig 651 at Winter, southwest of Cut Knife.
Durham Creek Energy had PD Rig 148 working just south of Neilburg, an area that hasn’t seen a lot of attention for years.
West Lake had Bonanza Rig 3 drilling southwest of Lashburn. Baytex Energy had PD Rig 155 south of Maidstone.
Just north of Macklin, Savanna Drilling Rig 418 was making hole for Longshore, while just south of Macklin, Surge was drilling with Savanna Rig 414.
Eleven rigs were working in west central Saskatchewan. Strathcona had another rig, Bonanza Rig 1, along Highway 51 between Kerrobert and Kelfield. They also had Akita Drilling Rig 6 and PD Rig 297 near Cactus Lake.
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West of Coleville, Ish Energy had Edge Drilling Rig 6 working. Teine Energy had Ensign Rig 7 at Hoosier, Ensign Rig 350 northeast of Kindersley, Ensign Rig 351 and Savanna Rig 419 southwest of Plenty.
Woodcote, a company Pipeline Online has not seen before on these reports, was drilling with Bonanza Rig 11 at Eatonia, an area that also hasn’t seen much attention. South of Elrose, Whitecap Resources had PD Rig 288 making hole.
Using the South Saskatchewan River as the dividing line between west central and southwest Saskatchewan, we find North American Helium drilling within spitting distance of Lake Diefenbaker, northeast of Stewart Valley. Savanna Rig 629 was the one drilling.
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There was a whole lot of nothing happening in southwest Saskatchewan other than Shell Canada working with Akita Drilling Rig 35 at Harptree, southeast of Willowbunch. And that could conceivably be considered southeast Saskatchewan.
At Disley, Buffalo Potash has been drilling its first well just north of Highway 11, using Stampede Drilling Rig 22.
Over in the southeast, there was effectively no drilling activity west of Estevan, including nothing going on in the Weyburn or Torquay areas.
There were however two major cluster of rigs – one smaller one near Warmley, and a large one near Lampman.
At Warmley, Panther Drilling Rigs 2 and 3 were working for Whitecap. Ensign Rig 808 was drilling for Saturn. A little to the west at Creelman, Stampede Drilling Rig 8 was drilling for Saturn.
Eight rigs were drilling in that Lampman cluster, stretching from Benson to Willmar. They included Alliance Drilling rig 2 for Midale Petroleums at Benson, Ensign Rig 423 eight miles to the east of Benson for Whitecap, and Stampede Rig 7 drilling for Whitecap northwest of Browning. Just west of Lampman, Stampede Rig 17 was drilling for Whitecap, and southeast of the town, Stampede Rig 2 was drilling for Surge.
Tundra Oil and Gas showed up northeast of Steelman with Stampede Rig 16. Betts Drilling Rig 2 was working for Triland Energy.
There were four outliers in the areas. North of Parkman, Stampede Rig 19 was drilling for Pemoco. Woodland Development Corp had Stampede Rig 3 south of Carievale. Stampeded Rig 1 was drilling for Saturn at Northgate. And finally, Stampede Rig 4 was drilling for Tundra at Roche Percee.
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