Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Betts Drilling Rig 3 drilling north of Glen Ewen for Anova Resources on Jan. 27, 2024. Photo by Brian Zinchuk
The recent sale of a junior oil producer active in southeast Saskatchewan may indicate something of a rebirth of the junior producer business model. That’s the model that dominated the southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch after all the majors left.
In January of 2025, West Lake Energy Corp., a private, Calgary, Alberta-based intermediate oil and natural gas company with assets in Alberta and Saskatchewan, completed the acquisition of Anova Resources Inc. for an undisclosed amount.
West Lake CEO Rob Cook said in an email, “Anova is continuing on as a wholly owned subsidiary of West Lake so there should be no impact upon local employment or local businesses. West Lake has hired some of the Anova Calgary staff and a number of other Anova staff were under transition contracts with West Lake but I can’t be more specific.”
Blake Eshleman, who was Anova’s chief financial officer, spoke to Pipeline Online by phone on March 5. He is currently acting in a transitional capacity before he and former Anova CEO Jordan Lazic move onto their next venture.
Eshleman said, “Anova’s assets were primarily located in the Browning, Hastings, Morrisview, Souris Flat, and Wilmar areas of southeastern Saskatchewan.”
Anova was not being marketed for sale, as in this wasn’t part of a strategic review or anything like that. Eshleman referred to the process as “one-off discussions.”
“They had expressed an interest in buying Anova, then we took a look at it and ended up going down that road with them and selling to them,” he explained.
- 0091 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_RANJITH0091 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_RANJITH
- 0090 WBPC_2025_30_SECOND_PROMO_DAN0090 WBPC_2025_30_SECOND_PROMO_DAN
- 0089 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_ERIK0089 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_ERIK
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001
The Anova purchase is also West Lake’s second acquisition within the past year in the region. Last summer the company purchased Axial Exploration.
“West Lake made its inaugural acquisition in southeastern Saskatchewan in June of 2024 when it purchased Axial Exploration Ltd. Axial was publicly marketed for sale by Peters & Co. Limited, a Calgary based investment bank, and the preeminent partner for many Saskatchewan oil producers seeking to sell their business, including, in recent years, Adonai Resources II Corporation and Fire Sky Energy Inc,” Eshleman said.
Rebirth of the junior producer model?
He added, “Certain members of the former Anova management team have started a new, private oil and natural gas company, Artesian Energy Corp. Artesian has acquired lands in southeastern Saskatchewan, and management expects to begin drilling after spring breakup.”
And that’s where the rebirth of the junior producer model appears to be taking place. For much of the early part of this century, teams usually made up of about five executives, including a chief executive officer/president, vice president operations, vice president exploration, chief financial officer and one other position would launch a new oil company. They’d acquire some land, perhaps do some seismic work or purchase existing seismic, and begin a drilling program. At one point the maxim was “Five guys, five million, five holes,” to start.
They would build up production up to a certain level, from several hundred to a few thousand barrels per day, and then sell to a larger company. In most cases, that ended up being Crescent Point Energy Corp.
While those numbers, the five-five-five, have certainly gone up over the years, that model had all but disappeared with the seven-year oil downturn that started in late 2014. A few years after the downturn hit, Crescent Point, now Veren, started selling off vast swaths of acreage and production, ending its role as the serial acquirer.
By around the turn of the century, most of the large international oil producers that had been active in southeast Saskatchewan for decades had pulled out. Previously, names like Imperial Oil, Shell and British Petroleum were common, but they left in that order. Shell had done the initial development of the carbon dioxide flood in the Midale Unit before selling to Apache. BP sold its last asset in the region, the Steelman gas plant, during the early years of the Bakken boom.
Eshleman said he and Jordan Lazic will be moving onto Artesian shortly.
“It feels like there aren’t a lot of guys doing it anymore. But that creates a great opportunity to go and pick up some highly prospective lands and delineate a land base, prove up some locations and create a lot of value for shareholders and all the other stakeholders in the area,” he said.
They’ve already acquired some land, but can’t discuss where at this point.
- 0091 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_RANJITH0091 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_RANJITH
- 0090 WBPC_2025_30_SECOND_PROMO_DAN0090 WBPC_2025_30_SECOND_PROMO_DAN
- 0089 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_ERIK0089 WBPC_2025_30_SEC_PROMO_ERIK
- 0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser0046 City of Estevan This is Estevan Teaser
- 0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO0088 WBPC_2025_30SEC_PROMO
- 0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion0087 Lori Carr Coal Expansion
- 0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs0086 Sask Gov Oil and Gas Incentive Programs
- 0085 Turnbull snow removal call office0085 Turnbull snow removal call office
- 0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online0084 EMP Metals Pipeline Online
- 0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech0077 Caprice Resources Stand Up For Free Speech
- 0076 Latus only0076 Latus only
- 0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask0061 SIMSA 2024 For Sask Buy Sask
- 0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office0055 Smart Power Be Smart with your Power office
- 0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly0051 JML Hiring Pumpjack assembly
- 0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar0049 Scotsburn Dental soft guitar
- 0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build0041 DEEP Since 2018 now we are going to build
- 0032 IWS Summer hiring rock trailer music
- 0022 Grimes winter hiring
- 0021 OSY Rentals S8 Promo
- 0018 IWS Hiring Royal Summer
- 0013 Panther Drilling PO ad 03 top drive rigs
- 0011
- 0006 JK Junior
- 0002 gilliss casing services0002 gilliss casing services
- 9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX9002 Pipeline Online 30 sec EBEX
- 9001