Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Royal Helium’s Climax-4 well last year. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
Drilling activity has hit its stride in Saskatchewan, with 39 drilling rigs working in the field as of July 26. Most significantly, northwest Saskatchewan has come alive again as Cenovus, the province’s largest oil producer, has deployed several rigs to the field in multiple areas. This is a big change, as for an extensive part of this past year, Cenovus had been operating only one rig, despite substantially higher oil prices.
Helium activity has also picked up in the extreme south, with three companies making hole. But southeast Saskatchewan’s oil activity is still rather sedate compared to the past decade.
This data is according to RiggerTalk.com, publishing data from the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC).
Northeast of Stoughton, Cache Island and Crescent Point each had a rig working near Hazelwood. The Lampman area had four rigs working, with two for Whitecap Resources, one for Taprock, and another for Tundra Oil & Gas. A little to the west at Bryant, Surge Energy was drilling.
Vermillion had one rig southeast of Manor and another at Northgate. South of Glen Ewan, Saturn Oil & Gas and Villanova had a rig each working in close proximity. South of Carnduff, Rok Resources had one rig.
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Crescent Point had one more rig working near the U.S. border south of Ratcliffe.
Southwest Saskatchewan had more rigs drilling for helium than oil. South of LeFleche, Helium Evolution was working on either its first or second well. Southwest of Mankota, North American Helium was working in an area first developed by Weil Helium, which has sold its assets in the area to North American. And just a few miles north of the U.S. border crossing at Monchy, Royal Helium is developing yet another area, drilling in what it’s calling its Val Marie property.
But there is some oil drilling going on in the region, with Crescent Point having a rig east of East End and another northwest of Frontier.
Things are busy in west central Saskatchewan, but there is apparently a shift in activity. While Dodsland used to be the key hotspot, a lot of rigs are now working near Coleville.
Starting from the southeast, Teine Energy Ltd. and Saturn each had a rig working near Plato. Baytex had one rig just north of Kindersley. Teine had a rig at Dodsland and another north of Brock. Strathcona Resources had one at Kelfield.
At Coleville, Baytex had another rig, with one more a few miles north. It was close to a Whitecap rig. West of Coleville, Teine had one rig. North of Hoosier, Ish Energy Ltd. employed one rig.
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Novus had one rig working west of Fusilier, within sight of the Alberta border. North of that, Savanna Rig 414 was working for “potash,” although that is likely a data entry error.
Northwest Saskatchewan saw more activity than it has for quite some time. Southwest of Lashburn, Rife Resources Ltd. had a rig. Cenovus had a rig north of Maidstone, another at Paradise Hill, and two near Spruce Lake. This pattern is indicative of further cookie-cutter SAGD development by Cenovus.
Finally in Saskatchewan, International Petroleum Corp. had one rig working at Onion Lake.
Since no one else shows Manitoba love, we will. That province had five rigs going, with three in the Sinclair-Daly field. Two were working for Tundra, south and west of Cromer. Corex Resources had one rig west of Virden. Tundra also had a rig in the Waskada field within spitting distance of the U.S. border, a rarity since drilling activity in that area has been substantially diminished in recent years. Melita also had a rig working a little north of the International Peace Gardens, near Lyleton.
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