Alberta drilling to be up 64% from last year. Hopefully good things coming.
Oil and gas drilling activity continues to recover in Alberta and across Canada, with the number of wells drilled this year now expected to outpace last year's total by 64 per cent.
Improved drilling forecast tempered by competition risk from Trump
The Petroleum Services Association of Canada revised its forecast for 2017 upward again on Thursday, and now expects some 6,680 wells to be drilled nationwide this year, with roughly half of those in Alberta.
That's up from the 5,150 wells it foresaw in its January forecast, which was also an upgrade from last November's initial forecast of 4,175 wells.
After hovering around 11,000 wells annually from 2012 to 2014, drilling activity shrunk to just 5,400 wells in 2015 and then fell to a low of 4,084 wells in 2016 in the wake of the oil price crash.
Opposite direction
But now it seems the trend is in the opposite direction.
"Never underestimate the tenacity or efficiency of the Canadian oilfield services sector," PSAC president Mark Salkeld said in a release.
"The drilling seasons of 2015 and 2016 were difficult, to say the very least ... but with some degree of confidence in $50 oil and the dramatic lowering of costs by the service sector, we are seeing increased activity levels."
In Alberta, specifically, PSAC now expects 3,320 wells will be drilled this year, up from its initial forecast of 1,900.
Saskatchewan is expected to see 2,670 wells, up from an original forecast of 1,940.
British Columbia is forecast to have 449 wells drilled and another 221 are expected in Manitoba this year.
Twenty wells are expected in the rest of the country.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...2017-1.4089033
For a total change of pace, some good news.
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