Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Pickup in drilling activity comes after extraordinary land sale and high oil prices
Betts Drilling Rig 1 near Manor on Oct. 27, 2026. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Saskatchewan’s drilling rig count has hit a number not seen in years, with 51 rigs either drilling or moving on Nov. 3.
That’s according to data from the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC), as published by RiggerTalk.com. On that site you can see the location, operator and contractor for each rig.
That 51 isn’t an extraordinarily high number, as we have seen rig counts in the high 40s in recent years. And its half of what was common during the boom years which ended in 2014. But it is notable over the past decade and significant in recent years. For comparison, there were 44 rigs drilling in Saskatchewan on Oct. 6, making a gain of seven rigs in about a month.
Also notable is the surge in drilling in northwest Saskatchewan, a breath of life in the southwest, and a large diversity of companies drilling in the southeast. Cenovus Energy and Saturn Oil & Gas have significantly stepped up their drilling activities, with 12 and six rigs in the field, respectively. That’s a small gain for Cenovus, but a big one for Saturn. Whitecap Resources also had six rigs working, which is more typical for them (They also have 10 rigs working in Alberta, but we’re focusing on Saskatchewan here.)
Several areas that haven’t seen much, if any, activity for many years now have a rig drilling.
Oil prices around the $100 mark for WTI are certainly a factor, and the activity is also likely tied to the extraordinary Crown land sale on Oct. 6. That sale saw exploration licenses outsell leases two-to-one. And the price per hectare for the top license was eye-watering high compared to typical rates paid.
As reported this week, for the first time in at least a decade, a brand new drilling company is in the works for Saskatchewan. That company is Rawhide Energy.
If your social media algorithm includes oil and gas, you’re likely seeing loads of help-wanted ads for drilling contractors. Pipeline Online’s various feeds are flooded with them.
While most rigs were drilling for oil, one was drilling for lithium, one for hydrogen, one for helium and one for potash.
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Northwest Saskatchewan
Northwest Saskatchewan saw the largest jump in activity.
Of particular interest is Precision Drilling Rig 254, drilling for Cenovus Energy Inc. at 02-21-061-27 W3. That’s west of Pierceland and close enough to the Alberta border that if the derrickman hawked a loogie, it would land in Wild Rose Country. There are several single well batteries in the immediate vicinity, but Pipeline Online has not seen any active drilling show up in that area in at least 15 years, maybe longer. While drilling north of Onion Lake has been common, Pierceland area (east of Cold Lake, Alberta), has not been.
That’s the first of 12 rigs working for Cenovus in northwest Saskatchewan. The others include PD Rig 151 north of Paradise Hill, PD Rig 146 at Spruce Lake, PD Rig 197 at Bolney, PD Rig 150 across the North Saskatchewan River from Tangleflags, Ensign Drilling Rig 534 north of Marie Hill, PD Rig 294 18 kilometres northeast of Lloydminster, Akita Drilling Rig 14 at Dee Valley, PD Rigs 191 and 198 at Rush Lake, PD Rig 187 and Akita Rig 8 west and south of Edam.
Strathcona Resources Ltd. employed Horizon Drilling Rig 55 at Meota.
Baytex Energy Ltd. Had PD Rig 155 west of Pikes Peak and PD Rig 156 south of Lloydminster.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited had PD Rig 185 20 kilometres east-northeast of Lloydminster.
Grounded Lithium Corp. was drilling northwest of Neilburg with Savanna Drilling Corp. Rig 418.
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West central Saskatchewan
Moving to west central Saskatchewan one could find eight rigs working. Cardinal Energy Ltd. employed Akita Drilling Rig 56 south of Wilkie. That’s another area that hasn’t seen much drilling activity in a very long time, although 2026 Google Maps imagery seems to indicate two recent pads with squares indicating possibly three wells per pad nearby.
Strathcona had Bonanza Drilling Rig 1 at Cosine.
Robson Resources, a company Pipeline Online has not yet heard of, was drilling southeast of Fusilier with Ensign Rig 350.
Whitecap Resources Inc. gets into the game with PD Rig 288 along the highway south of Kerrobert.
Baytex had Savanna Rig 441 northeast of Kindersley.
Southwest of Kindersley, ISH Energy Ltd. Employed Edge Drilling Rig 6.
Teine Energy had Savanna Rig 626 northeast of Plato.
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Southwest Saskatchewan
Southwest Saskatchewan has risen from the nearly dead, as it were.
The minimal amount of drilling in Southwest Saskatchewan (from the South Saskatchewan River to the US border) has been a significant concern for several years, often with just one rig drilling, and that was usually for helium. But on Nov. 3 there were four rigs drilling.
East of Stewart Valley, North American Helium was drilling with Savanna Rig 629.
South of Gull Lake, Saturn Oil & Gas enters the chat with Savanna Rig 425.
West of Frontier, Durham was drilling with Savanna Rig 419 north of the highway while Bull Pine was drilling with Savanna Rig 606 south of the highway.
Central Saskatchewan
In recent months we’ve had to add a new region – central Saskatchewan. North of Central Butte, Max Power Mining continues to punch holes, with Savanna Rig 631 west of Bridgeford.
At Lanigan, Akita Rig 35 was drilling for Nutrien.
Note: there is generally ongoing drilling at several of Saskatchewan’s potash mines, especially at Bethune and Esterhazy, but these rigs generally do not show up on CAOEC drilling reports.
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Southeast Saskatchewan
There are several notable developments in southeast Saskatchewan. First, Allied Energy II Corp was drilling with Stampede Drilling Inc. Rig 22 south of Radville in an area that hasn’t seen much love in recent years.
Notable for its absence is the fact no drilling is happening in the Torquay area.
There’s a cluster of rigs working in the Viewfield area, something that hasn’t happened very often since the decline of the Bakken boom. While you might see one or two rigs on occasion, clusters like this have been rare. Those for rigs are Whitecap’s Stampede Rig 7 south of Froude, and Stampede 17 northeast of Viewfield. In close proximity was Panther Drilling Rig 4 for Caprice Resources and Stampede Rig 16 for Villanova Energy.
Panther Rig 2 was continuing its Weyburn Unit program for Whitecap, working south of Halbrite.
Alliance Drilling & Oilfield Services Rig 2 was drilling at Bryant for Midale Petroleums Ltd.
East of Benson, Whitecap employed Ensign Rig 424. West of Lampman, Betts Drilling Ltd. Rig 3 was working for Anova Resources. Southwest of Lampman, Alliance Rig 3 was drilling for Hummingbird Energy.
North of Steelman saw Stampede Rig 2 drilling for Surge Energy Inc.
Betts Rig 4 was working for Taprock northwest of Alameda.
Woodland Development Corp had Stampede Rig 3 south of Arcola.
Saturn had Stampeded Rig 8 working east of Creelman in another area that hasn’t seen much love in recent years.
Southeast of Corning Panther Rig 3 was drilling for Whitecap. East of Corning, near Moose Valley saw Horizon Drilling Rig 29 drilling for Saturn.
North of Northgate Saturn was drilling with Stampede Rig 1, while they had Stampede Rig 19 south of Glen Ewen and Horizon Rig 27 south of Carnduff.
Editor’s note: Pipeline Online editor and owner Brian Zinchuk will be on the Evan Bray Show at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Listen live at CJME.com, and this topic will be one discussed.
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