Wow, this month has been a whirlwind, and more importantly, it鈥檚 been fun.
Why fun? In the last six weeks this paper has seen more excitement, more enthusiasm and more good news than we鈥檝e seen in the last two years.
It started in January, with our focus on Carnduff. Many, but not all, companies there were telling us they had seen the bottom and had started to hire people again.
This month the focus has been Arcola, and again, it was nearly all good news. Business is picking up. People are hiring. Noble Well Services has been bringing on people, but qualified ones have been hard to find, as so many service rig hands have left the industry. Gibsons, formerly Littlehawk Enterprises, is in the process of hiring several people. Flying G Trucking could put three qualified picker operators to work.
It appears the service rig business is the first to feel a real crunch for people. Saskatchewan鈥檚 active drilling rig count peaked at 68 around Valentine鈥檚 Day, according to sister publication Rig Locator. That鈥檚 the highest level seen for almost exactly two years. But with more drilling rigs firing up, some service rig hands shifted gears and moved to the drilling rigs. The result is a shortage of service rig hands. We鈥檙e now even seeing billboards seeking to hire service rig hands.
For the first time in a long time, we鈥檙e starting to get numerous calls saying, 鈥淗ey! Come and do a story on us! We鈥檝e got a new thing going!鈥�
One of those is Quinn ALS, a new reciprocating rod pump shop in Estevan which opened at the beginning of the year. It鈥檚 one of the first, if not thee first, new shops we鈥檝e seen in a very long time in Estevan.
Canadian Plains Energy Services fired up in the New Year as well, with operations in Regina and Carlyle, where they inhabit the old Carsons shop. That鈥檚 fitting, because Dale Ziegler, president, took over the running of Carson Energy Services (which has had various names through multiple sales) when Ron Carson retired. All their 30 staff on board used to work with Carsons, and Ziegler expects to grow that number to 60 in a few months time. By later this year, he鈥檚 aiming for 150.
Another thing we have not seen in a long time is companies investing in new iron. For Canadian Plains, they have a fleet of brand new crew trucks, in addition to their yellow iron. R French Transport in Arcola just acquired four new trucks.
Saskatchewan鈥檚 oilpatch is eager to get back to work. That was evident by the roughly 300 people who attended an initial contractors meeting in Weyburn on Feb. 15 for the proposed Dominion Energy Processing Group Inc. Stoughton refinery. That project is still in its early stages, but they are hoping to scratch dirt by the end of the year.
February has been the most positive month we鈥檝e seen in nearly 2.5 years. Let鈥檚 keep this train rolling.
