CFK- The way the stock has been acting, it seems like everyone in Canada must have walked away from their drilling rigs and gone home. But the truth is that everyone is busier than ever according to this latest news report from nickles.com, the leading news-source for the Canadian OG drilling industry:
Rig Count May Have Peaked This Week At 757 Active
By Amanda McLane
This week’s survey found 757 active rigs across western and northern Canada, likely this winter’s peak level if the patterns of previous years are followed, according to Nickle’s Rig Locator records.
Achieving a utilization rate of 96% for both Northern and Western Canada reveals the significant growth in the industry this year with a 15% percentage point increase from the first week in March 2005 when 81% (590 out of 732) rigs were active. That means a full 167 more rigs are at work this week than a year ago.
The top operator this week is still EnCana Corporation which continues to lead with 73 rigs at work. Following close behind is Canadian Natural Resources Limited with 58 rigs and Burlington Resources Canada with 48 rigs on the go.
In Alberta 274 rigs were working on development locations on wells with a licensed location while 256 rigs were drilling or getting ready to drill exploration prospects, with a considerable interest in the Wapiti area (15 rigs).
Out of the 47 active wells in Saskatchewan, 34 are working on development holes and 13 are exploring for new deposits. Within the 47 active holes, 39 are chasing oil.
In Manitoba this week eight active rigs are working on five development locations and three are chasing new prospects. All eight active wells are searching for oil.
The service rig industry activity is also stable this week with 88% of the fleet at work --852 active rigs out of the 969 available. Last year at this time 79% of the available service rigs were working in a fleet size of 912.
