Canada’s North in full swing, setting 17-year high

Gary Park, PNA Canadian correspondent

Operators in Canada have set a cracking pace to open 2003, notably in the north where the rig count is at its highest level in 17 years.

Entering the last week of February, an industry survey showed 12 rigs were active in the Northwest Territories, with companies including Petro-Canada, Chevron Canada Resources, Apache Canada Ltd., Anadarko Canada Corp., Paramount Resources Ltd., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Devlan Exploration Inc.

They cover the sweep from the Mackenzie Delta, to the Central Mackenzie Valley and the Fort Liard region of the lower Northwest Territories, where new gas discoveries are essential to the commercial viability of opening up the Far North and building a pipeline along the Mackenzie Valley.

Northern contractors include Akita Drilling Ltd. with four rigs, Wilson Drilling Ltd. with three rigs, Precision Drilling Corp. with two rigs and Nabors Drilling and Tri-City Drilling with one each. Nabors also has a rig on the move to a drilling site.

The Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors said utilization of the 660 rigs owned by its member companies is at 90 per cent.

The latest well license data for all of Canada shows 298 rigs are hunting for gas and 84 are seeking oil.

Industry records show operators completed a record 1,372 wells in January, eclipsing last January by 59 percent.

Alberta logged 1,014 completions, Saskatchewan 291, British Columbia 55, Manitoba 10 and Eastern Canada two.

The tally included 964 gas wells, 405 ahead of January 2002, while oil wells at 287 were 120 ahead of a year earlier, but far short of the record 703 oil wells in January 1986.

EnCana Corp. was the pacesetter for the month with 154 completions, followed by Burlington Resources Canada Ltd. at 137 wells, including 53 exploration holes.