Drillers back away from record pace

Gary Park

A dip in industry drilling plans turned into a full-fledged dive in September when regulators in Canada issued just over 2,000 new well permits, down 20 percent from a year earlier.

For the first nine months, licenses have totaled 18,039, including 14,174 targeting natural gas prospects, compared with 17,323 to the end of September 2003, 12,660 of them gas-intended wells.

From a headlong rush to surpass last year’s record 27,400 permits, companies have suddenly applied the brakes, with August’s permits off 9 percent at 1,776 and well completions for the month down 22 percent at 1,955.

The September permit count of 2,064 licenses stemmed from Alberta and Saskatchewan, the two most active provinces, while British Columbia continued its strong year, totaling 890 permits to the end of September, a gain of 34 percent over 2003.

The major operators pulled back sharply in September, with EnCana picking up 253 well permits vs. 388 a year earlier, while EOG Resources dropped to 89 from 278 and Penn West Petroleum dropped to 29 from 108.

Of this year’s total, 13,953 were development wells, up 4.6 percent from last year, and 4,536 were listed as exploratory holes, up 4.4 percent.