Akita adds to northern, heavy oil assets

Gary Park

Akita Drilling, the leading contractor in northern Canada, has added to its northern and heavy oil services portfolio by participating in the takeover of Western Oilfield Servicing of Red Deer, Alberta.

Akita Equtak Drilling, a joint venture held 50 percent by Akita, acquired three well servicing rigs and related equipment in the C$3.9 million transaction, which closed at the start of the fourth quarter.

Wet second and third quarters took a bite out of Akita’s performance, lowering rig utilization for the first nine months of 2004 to 52 percent and well completions to 1,016 compared with 55 percent utilization and 1,090 wells in the same period of 2003.