Canadian 2nd-quarter edges ahead of ‘05

The pullback from natural gas drilling along with the traditional seasonal downturn limited utilization of Canada’s rig fleet to 40 percent in the second quarter, marginally ahead of 2005, with an average 320 of 795 rigs active during the three months.

Industry figures compared that with 289 active rigs from a fleet of 735 during the same quarter of 2005.

But a feverish pace in the first quarter put the first half count of active rigs at an average 519, beating last year’s performance by 17 percent and posting a utilization rate of 66 percent vs. 61 percent to the end of June 2005.

Alberta led the way in the January-June period with a 20 percent increase in active rigs to 386, but Northern Canada lagged well behind 2005.

For the first five months, Western and Northern Canada logged a record 7,293 natural gas well completions and 1,958 oil completions, the highest tally since 1997.

Regulatory agencies reported 335 oil discoveries over the period, the best since 1986.

—Gary Park