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By Glory Przekop

PSAC: drilling activity to increase in 2018

Nov 1, 2017 | 9:26 AM

The Petroleum Services Association of Canada predicts activity will pick up next year.

In its 2018 Canadian Drilling Activity Forecast, PSAC estimates 7,900 wells will be drilled in Canada next year, 3,998 of those in Alberta.

PSAC President, Mark Salkeld commented, “The small uptick in activity we realized in Q1 of 2017 has carried on through the year. Budgets set with initial optimism for a gradual climb in prices by year-end continue with their plans as drilling and completion efficiencies improve. Due to pressure to stay low, costs for services continue to be suppressed affording better margins for producers. For 2018, confidence that oil will stay in the low-to-mid US$50 range as markets tighten and inventories reduce, along with growing interest in Canada’s vast liquids rich natural gas, should support a 4 – 5 percent increase in activity levels.”

The revised number nationwide for this year is 7,550 and activity next year will be 30 percent lower than 2014.

Salkeld continued, “The cancellation of TransCanada’s Energy East pipeline is another blow to investor confidence in Canada and so PSAC will continue to advocate hard for market access and a competitive environment. The world’s energy needs are growing and polls show that countries would prefer Canadian oil and gas that is responsibly-developed and working to reduce carbon emissions through innovation. Market access and development of our natural resources would not only help reduce global emissions and help lift third-world countries out of energy poverty, but would continue to benefit Canadians too by providing energy security, LNG for remote and northern communities, great high-tech jobs and world prices for our resources so that they can continue to provide economic benefits to all Canadians.”

by Glory Przekop