Forty rigs drilling in Saskatchewan

Forty rigs drilling in Saskatchewan on Aug. 13, of which 37 are targeting oil, 1 helium, 1 lithium and 1 potash

BY BRIAN ZINCHUK

On Tuesday, Aug. 13, there were 40 drilling rigs working in Saskatchewan. One was drilling for lithium, one for helium, one for potash, and the remaining 37 drilling for oil.

That’s according to RiggerTalk.com, which publishes data from the Canadian Association of Energy Contractors (CAOEC).

Starting in northwest Saskatchewan, it’s looking busier than it has been for a while, with 11 drilling rigs at work, four of which are relatively close to Lloydminster. That’s an area that hasn’t seen a lot of drilling in the last decade. Three of those rigs are drilling for Cenovus Energy north of Marshall, and one is drilling for Rife Resources. A little bit east of that cluster and north of Marshall, Baytex Energy drilling one hole.

Just north of Maidstone, Cenovus had two more rigs drilling on the same pad. And to the east of those rigs, Canadian Natural Resources Limited had one rig working near Rush Lake. Strathcona Resources had one rig working at Meota.

Cenovus had one more rig working at Celtic and another at Spruce Lake. If you were counting, that’s seven rigs making hole for Cenovus in northwest Saskatchewan.

In west central Saskatchewan there were ten rigs drilling. Longshore Resources had one rig working north of Macklin within spitting distance of the Alberta border. Strathcona had two rigs working east of Kerrobert along Highway 51, while Whitecap Resources had one rig southwest of Kerrobert and another southeast of Elrose. Baytex had a rig east of Coleville. Teine Energy had rigs at Stranraer, Hoosier and Plato. Ish Energy had one rig north of Eatonia. Saturn Oil & Gas also had a rig east of Plato.

There was a rather odd placement of a North American Helium rig, shown on the map northeast of Riverhurst near Lake Diefenbaker. This could have been a data entry error, as it was due north of one of their principal drilling areas to the south. This occasionally happens in rig maps, where one digit error in entry can show a rig in a wildly different area than usual.

In southwest Saskatchewan Veren, formerly Crescent Point, had one rig working at Dollard. That solitary rig drilling for oil in the southwest is a continuing indicator of declining interest in drilling activity in southwest Saskatchewan.

There were 16 rigs drilling in southeast Saskatchewan. Tundra Oil and Gas was drilling dust outside Oungre. Whitecap had one rig drilling on the outskirts of Hallbrite. Surge Energy had one rig northeast of Macoun at Bryant.

Saturn had one rig at Handsworth and another at Willmar. Veren had a rig east of Corning and another at Warmley, which is due north of Kisbey. Whitecap had a rig northwest and another northeast of Lampman. Triland Energy had one rig northwest of Willmar. Aldon Oils had one rig at Manor.

Vermillion Energy had one rig at Frobisher. Woodland Development Corp. had a rig south of Carnduff. And Burgess Creek Exploration had one rig south of Redvers.

Hub City Lithium is back in the field, drilling just a few miles west of Stoughton. And BHP had a rig working at its Jansen Lake mine.

Note: while potash mines routinely have rigs working every day, such as at Esterhazy and Bethune, those rigs generally don’t show up on these reports.