The number of active drilling rigs has remained quite consistent throughout the winter drilling season. That season draws to a close when road bans are put into place, usually around March 15.
As of March 6, sister publication Rig Locator (riglocator.ca) listed 68 active drilling rigs in the province.
By Jan. 11, the rig count hit 65 active rigs and did not drop below that for the entire season post-New Year. For most of the time, the number floated in the low 70s, buoyed in large part by Crescent Point Energy Corp.’s prolific drilling program. They consistently ran 26 to 27 rigs in Canada, all but one or two in Saskatchewan, during that time period. Of particular interest was their fleet of nine rigs working in the area of roughly one township, southwest of Torquay and along the United States border in what they refer to as their Flat Lake play.
The 2018 winter season has averaged roughly 10 rigs, on average, more than the same time in 2017. However, 2018 was nearly double the numbers seen in the 2016 season. While most years see a big push in early March to get a few more holes in, 2016 saw a significant slump towards the end of the season, dropping to 25 rigs by the end of February.
The active drilling rig number is significant in that it is one of the leading indicators of activity in the oilpatch, especially on the exploration side, but eventually on the production side. During the boom years leading up to 2014, the rig count would typically hover between 100 and 110 rigs during the same time period.
