Canada still chasing well permit record

Mid-summer doldrums have not yet dragged Canada below record-setting levels for new well permits issued by regulators.

Approvals were issued for 2,180 new wells in July — short of the totals for previous month and July 2004 — but the January-July tally was a new high of 16,014 wells.

In Alberta, operators got 1,713 permits in July, 61 ahead of the same period last year and British Columbia climbed to 154 from 102.

Coalbed methane holds the key to Alberta’s gains, with the total to the end of July at 1,458 compared with 611 in 2004 and 224 in 2003. Conventional gas licenses in the province totaled 9,424, an increase of 80 from a year earlier, while bitumen wells increased to 830 from 574, but conventional oil approvals slipped to 1,378 from 1,395.

For the seven-month period, Saskatchewan oil licenses climbed to 1,278 from 1,053, but gas wells tapered to 1,249 from 1,491.

British Columbia logged 720 permits (nine for oil), up from 629 (30 for oil) in 2004.

—Gary Park