Estevan– Mid-February to the first week of March is traditionally the peak of the year for oilwell drilling activity. And on Feb. 22, there were 31 drilling rigs working in Saskatchewan, down markedly from the previous two years.
According to Rig Locator (riglocator.ca), in 2020 there were 65 rigs working on the same date, and 52 rigs working on that date in 2019. During the boom years, from 2008-2014, there would be closer to 100 rigs working.
While the current number couldn’t be considered great by any means, it is significantly higher than the zero rigs that were drilling in the first part of the summer of 2020, when oil markets were initially recovering from the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.