Canada posts fresh drilling record in first quarter

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

Northern Canada drew a blank while the rest of the country racked up 6,278 well completions in the first quarter of 2004, breaking last year’s record of 5,495 by 14 percent.

British Columbia posted the biggest percentage gain, up 40 percent to 832 wells, reinforcing forecasts that the province is on track for an unprecedented year.

Over the last six months the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission has issued permits for 1,165 wells, including 476 since the start of 2004. That compares with 1,025 well completions for all of 2003.

Alberta recorded 4,673 well completions for the first three months, an increase of 12 percent over 4,180 in the same period last year, while Saskatchewan operators finished 737 wells, a gain of 10.5 percent from 2003.

The overall breakdown included 3,433 gas wells and 1,213 oil completions, with the balance made up of dry holes and service wells. Close to 70 percent were development wells and 30 percent were exploratory wells.

It was no surprise to see EnCana continue to outstrip all operators, completing 1,587 wells, trailing the field in only Saskatchewan, where it was fifth behind Husky Energy, Apache Canada, Profico Energy and Canadian Natural Resources.

In Alberta, EnCana logged 1,355 wells, compared with 400 by Husky, 346 by Canadian Natural, 191 by Burlington Resources Canada and 187 by Devon Canada.

British Columbia saw a tighter race, with EnCana completing 180 wells, edging out Canadian Natural by just three wells.

For all of Canada, EnCana completed 5.44 million feet of hole, followed by Canadian Natural at 2.34 million feet and Burlington at 1.75 million feet.