When coming off one of the worst drilling years in recent memory, any increase is positive. As a result, the uptick in drilling activity since the New Year resulted in a dramatic doubling of wells drilled for the first quarter, year over year, according to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Economy. In a press release on April 10 it noted, “Saskatchewan’s petroleum industry is showing signs of a positive start for 2017 after results for drilling activity during the first three months of the year were more than double the figures of 2016.”
“An increase of more than 450 wells drilled is an optimistic indicator for our oil industry and, by extension, Saskatchewan’s economic outlook for the year ahead,” Energy and Resources Minister Dustin Duncan said in the release.
The number of wells drilled in the province from January to the end of March was 856, compared to 399 wells drilled during the same period in 2016.
“Continued oil field activity at this pace is encouraging news,” Duncan said. “It contributes positively to communities throughout our province and is part of our economic growth.”
These numbers show a strong correlation with the number of active drilling rigs in Saskatchewan, as tracked by sister publication Rig Locator (www.riglocator.ca).
Their active drilling rig graph for Saskatchewan showed that the first quarter of 2016 was the lowest in several years, having dropped roughly one quarter to one half the number of active drilling rigs compared to the same time in 2015. That, in itself was a substantial drop compared to the first quarter of 2014, before the downturn hit. Prior to the downturn, it was common to see 100 or more active drilling rigs in Saskatchewan in January and February, the busiest period of drilling for the year.
As an example, on Jan. 25, 2016, there were 45 active drilling rigs, while this year, on Jan. 25, the number was 60. The difference is much more pronounced on March 1. In 2016, there were only 25 rigs working, whereas on the same day in 2017, there were 76 rigs, the highest level of drilling seen in 2015, 2016 or 2017.
A total of 1,648 oil wells were drilled in Saskatchewan in 2016, which was down 10 per cent from 1,831 oil wells drilled in 2015.
