The number of active drilling rigs in Saskatchewan saw a small bump on Aug. 23, with Rig Locator鈥檚 (www.riglocator.ca) numbers going to 43 from 38 the day before.
This is partially reflected in the number of drilling rigs Crescent Point Energy had deployed. It had been 10 the day before, but now sat at 13, enough to make Crescent Point the second most active driller in the country. Tourmaline Oil Corp. was first, with 17 rigs. For most of the last few years, Crescent Point had been the leader nation-wide, often with over 20 rigs working.
It seems that in the last three years, the middle of August sees the rig count around the same number, around 35. In 2015 the trend was on a sharp decline, while in 2016 it was on a sharp increase. This year the rig count is down again, but seems to have rebounded a bit.
In southeast Saskatchewan, there were 15 active drilling rigs, including one working at the Mosaic potash mines near Esterhazy.
Rig Locator showed seven oil and potash companies working in the southeast. Astra Oil had Stampede Drilling Ltd. Rig 2 at Pinto. Although Lightstream Resources Ltd. has become Ridgeback Resources, Lightstream still shows up as the operator for Stampede Rig 3, at Handsworth.
NAL Resources Ltd. had Panther Drilling Corp. Rig 2 at Cantal, west of Alida. Panther鈥檚 Rig 4 was working at Gainsborough for Spartan Energy Corp. Spartan also employed Tempco Drilling Company Inc. Rig 9 at Buffalo Head, south of Arcola, and Horizon Drilling Rig 29 at Oungre.
Villanova 4 Oil Corp. was also drilling at Pinto with D2 Drilling Inc. Rig 1.
Crescent Point had Horizon Rig 27 at Viewfield, Rig 33 at Marienthal, south of Torquay, and Rig 34 at Handsworth. Trinidad Drilling Ltd. Rig 423 was at Oungre, as was Ensign Drilling Inc. Rig 650. Alliance Drilling and Oilfield Services Ltd. Rig 3 was at Bromhead and Red Dog Drilling Inc. Rig 4 was at Viewfield.
In southwest Saskatchewan there were four rigs working near Shaunavon, three four Crescent Point and one for Surge Energy Inc. One rig was working at Gull Lake for Whitecap Resources Ltd.
In the Plato area, Crescent Point and Raging River Exploration Inc each had one rig working.
Spread throughout the Kindersley to Kerrobert area were a further 14 rigs. Near the Alberta border were Tamarack Acquisition Corp. and Turnstone Energy at Hoosier and Minton, respectively. Teine Energy Ltd. had four rigs working in the region, and Raging River had another two. Whitecap also had two more rigs in that area. Caltex Resources Ltd. and ISH Energy Ltd. each accounted for one, and there was one more Crescent Point rig as well.
In northwest Saskatchewan, the drought of drilling near Lloydminster appears to be over. West Lake Energy Corp. was drilling just southeast of the city. Black Pearl Resources had to rigs going at Onion Lake, while Husky Energy had to rigs working at its thermal project at Rush Lake. Finally, Kaisen Energy Corp had one rig working at Lone Rock.
