British Columbia heads for banner drilling year in 2004

Gary Park

Reveling in a 2004-05 budget surplus of C$1.9 billion, the largest in its history, the British Columbia government is counting on extracting even greater returns from its natural gas sector.

The British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission said Nov. 24 that the province has already completed 1,136 gas wells this year, beating the 2003 record of 1,049 and December, traditionally one of the busiest months, will likely push the tally well past 1,200.

Calgary-based FirstEnergy Capital said in a new report that British Columbia gets more money per acre from its land sales than the other provinces of Western Canada.

Through mid-October, the four western provinces collected C$120 per acre, with British Columbia easily leading the field at C$170.

Setting a cracking drilling pace in northeastern British Columbia, EnCana is well ahead of its planned pace in developing its Greater Sierra property.

In two years it has completed 400 wells, double its initial projections, when it forecast 500 wells over five years.

The big Canadian independent now anticipates reaching 1,000 wells over the next five years.

In addition, EnCana’s holdings in the Cutbank Ridge area will see drilling climb to 100 wells in 2005 from 60 wells this year.