Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Savanna Drilling Rig 416 working just west of the Chinook Power Staiton, west of Swift Current on Sept 26. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Late September has been warm, dry and windy in southern Saskatchewan – so there’s no excuse for not drilling because of rain. So what does the rig count look like?
On Monday, Sept. 29, there were 34 active drilling rigs in Saskatchewan, according to RiggerTalk.com, which publishes data from the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC).
Cenovus Energy Inc. was in the lead with seven rigs, all in the northwest.
Whitecap had rigs drilling in three regions of the province, with a total of six rigs overall.
Starting in northwest Saskatchewan, there were ten rigs drilling or moving. Strathcona Resources Ltd. had Precision Drilling (PD) Rig 188 at Meota, where the company is working on a new SAGD project. Canadian Natural Resources Limited employed PD Rig 300 north of Payton.
Marlin, an oil company Pipeline Online has never seen before on these lists, was drilling near Celtic with Savanna Drilling Rig 436.
Cenovus Energy Inc. had PD Rig 294 between Bolney and Paradise Hill, Ensign Drilling Inc. Rig 533 south of Tangleflags, PD Rig 197 north of Maidstone, PD Rig 146 northwest of Lloydminster, Akita Drilling along Highway southeast of Lloydminster, and PD Rig 254 just north of Marshall.
Moving towards west central Saskatchewan, Strathcona had Bonanza Drilling Inc. Rig 1 near the Alberta border, south of Macklin, and PD Rig 297 at Plover, north of Major. Get used to that, as Plover is one of Strathcona’s new thermal developments.
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ISH Energy Ltd. had Edge Drilling Corp. Rig 6 working north of Smiley.
In the area around Kiyiu Lake, between Kindersley and Plenty, Baytex Energy had Savanna Rig 441, with Whitecap Resources Inc. employing PD Rig 288. Just a little east of there, between Plenty and Brock, Teine Energy had Ensign Rig 351 and Rig 350 turning to the right.
In total, seven rigs were working in west central Saskatchewan.
(In social media, a question came up as to just what is southwest Saskatchewan, versus west central. Having lived and worked in both Rosetown and North Battleford, these are the definitions used: southwest Saskatchewan is from the US border to South Saskatchewan River at Saskatchewan Landing Provincial Park. West central is from Saskatchewan Landing to Macklin. North of Macklin is northwest Saskatchewan. These are the generally accepted boundaries for people in that area. It’s rather comical when Calgary-based oil companies refer to the Lloydminster area as “southwest Saskatchewan.” From an outsider’s perspective, maybe it is, but to anyone living there, it’s not.)
In southwest Saskatchewan there were just two rigs drilling, one for oil and one for helium. Whitecap had Savanna Rig 416 drilling south of Gull Lake, having moved from west of Swift Current where it was drilling a few days ago (note the photo above). North American Helium had Savanna Rig 629 drilling south of Mankota.
There were 15 rigs drilling in southeast Saskatchewan, including Stampede Drilling Inc. Rig 22 drilling for Mosaic Potash near Esterhazy. Often rigs drilling for potash don’t show up in this data, but sometimes they do.
The remaining 14 rigs were drilling for oil. Notable in its absence was the usual cluster of rigs near Lampman. Only one rig, Stampede Rig 2, was drilling south of Lampman for Surge Energy Inc. Saturn Oil & Gas came in tied for third, with three rigs in the southeast. Strathcona Resources also had three rigs, one in the northwest and two in west central Saskatchewan.
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Otherwise, starting from the west, Harvard Resources Inc. employed Horizon Drilling Rig 29 northwest of Colgate. Betts Drilling Rig 2 was moved over from its usual stomping grounds near Lampman to just west of the Weyburn Unit, where it was drilling for Aldon Oils Ltd.
Panther Drilling Corp. Rig 2 was working near Halbrite for Whitecap, in the Weyburn Unit.
Tundra Oil & Gast had Stampede Rig 4 drilling a little south of the bar at Oungre.
Due east of there, near the Viewfield townsite, Stampede Rig 17 was also drilling for Whitecap.
North of Heward, Saturn Oil & Gas had Stampede Rig 8 drilling. At Corning, Whitecap employed Stampede Rig 7. A little to the east of that, Ensign Rig 808 was drilling for Saturn. And just a little to the east of that, Cache Island Corp. was drilling north of Warmley. This area is a key development area for large open hole multi-lateral wells, which Pipeline Online reported on in detail here.
Southwest of Manor, Spectrum had Betts Rig 3 drilling. Whitecap had Ensign Rig 423 working north of Nottingham, with Betts Rig 1 just to the east, drilling for Burgess Creek Exploration Inc. Just east of Oxbow, Stampede Rig 1 was drilling for Saturn.
Finally, within spitting distance of the Manitoba border, Stampede Rig 16 was working for Tundra Oil & Gas.
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