Drilling rig report sees busier northwest Saskatchewan

By Brian Zinchuk

Northwest Saskatchewan is seeing notable drilling activity, according to Canadian Association of Energy Contractors data published by RiggerTalk.com.

The rig count for the province came in at 36, with 35 drilling for oil and one for helium.

Map courtesy RiggerTalk.com

As of Sept. 16, there were 13 rigs working in northwest Saskatchewan. Notably, three were working just a few kilometres east of Lloydminster, all for Cenovus. Those three included Precision Drilling (PD) Rigs 146 and 254, and Akita Drilling Rig 8.

Cenovus had a further five rigs in the region, with Ensign Drilling Inc. Rig 533 at Tangleflags, PD 294 and 198 west of Celtic, PD Rig 199 north of Spruce Lake, and PD Rig 197 at Edam.

Strathcona Resources Ltd. employed PD Rig 188 at Meota. Baytex Energy had PD Rig 155 at Pikes Peak. Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. had PD Rig 300 at Rush Lake, east of Maidstone.

Pentacor had Savanna Drilling Rig 436 working at Carruthers, north of Baldwinton. Hemisphere Energy Corporation had Edge Drilling Rig 5 working at Marsden. This is the first time Pipeline Online has seen either Pentacor or Hemisphere show up on these maps, although they may have been previously missed.

Moving into west central Saskatchewan, there were six rigs working. Strathcona had PD Rig 297 at Plover, where it is developing a new SAGD project. That’s between Denzil and Major. It also had Bonanza Rig 1 working near the south end of Tramping Lake.

Teine Energy had Ensign Rig 351 southeast of Superb and southwest of Kerrobert. A second Teine rig was Ensign Rig 350 sound of Fiske.

Baytex was drilling with Savanna Rig 441 northeast of Kindersley. Just north of Kindersley saw Ish Energy Ltd. drilling with Eding Drilling Rig 6.

Only two rigs were drilling in southwest Saskatchewan. Northwest of Swift Current was Savanna Rig 416 drilling for Whitecap Resources Inc. Savanna Rig 629 was drilling for North American Helium north of Ponteix.

In southeast Saskatchewan, 15 rigs were drilling.

Tundra Oil & Gas had Stampede Drilling Inc. Rig 4 north of Beaubier and Stampede Rig 16 within spitting distance of the Manitoba border, north of Antler and due west of Cromer.

Whitecap employed Panther Drilling Rig 2 in the Weyburn Unit near Halbrite. It also had Stampede Rig 17 east of Lampman, Stampede Rig 7 near Hazelwood, and Ensign Rig 423 north of Oxbow.

Also drilling between Hazelwood and Corning were Stampede Rig 3 for Cache Island Corp. and Ensign Rig 808 for Saturn Oil & Gas. At Handsworth, Saturn had Stampede Rig 8.

Near Manor, Stampede Rig 1 was drilling for Saturn as well.

Betts Drilling Rig 1 was north of Alameda for Taprock. Betts Rig 2 was working at Woodley, east of Benson for Aldon Oils Ltd. Spectrum was drilling north of Redvers with Betts Rig 3.

Surge Energy Inc. has Stampede Rig 2 south of Lampman.

Alliance Drilling Rig 3 was working for Hummingbird Energy Inc. near Carnduff.