Active Rig Count Reached 457 Last Week
Rig activity in Canada climbed a bit last week after stalling around
437 for most of November.
Precision Drilling Limited was the busiest contractor last week with
157 of its 217 drilling rigs at work, including 130 in Alberta and 46 in British Columbia. Rio Alto Exploration Ltd. employed the most rigs last week with
31 units in the field, slightly more than Alberta Energy Company Ltd.'s 30
rigs.
Only five rigs are drilling holes below 4 601 metres and
Talisman Energy Inc.
had three of them at work.
Last week's Rig Locator
publication found 74% of the available 615 drilling units
at work, the highest number since last winter. Active rig counts have held
around 437 during November until last week's jump to 457. A year ago, the last
week of November saw 407 rigs at work which represented 69% of the 586-rig
fleet.
Through the first 11 months of 2000, an average of 372 rigs have been
at work across Canada, or 62% of the fleet. While that represents a 48% jump
from an average of 252 active rigs over the same period last year, it remains
well below the 1997 11-month peak of 417 active rigs which represented 84% of
the then-available fleet of 500 rigs (see graph).
Contractors have nearly added 200 drilling units to the available
fleet since 1993 when only 421 units were in the fleet.
Jan.-Nov. Rig Utilization
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