Canadian Drilling – End of Summer Holiday

For the week of August 29, Baker Hughes reported that the Western Canadian gas-directed rig count fell one to 55 (blue line and text in left hand chart below), 12 less than one year ago and is the lowest for this time of year since 2020. The oil-directed rig count fell three to 118 (red line and text in right hand chart), 31 less than a year ago and the lowest for this time of year since 2023. Gas drilling activity continued to be held back by very low natural gas prices and increased caution exercised by producers over capital spending programs directed at both oil and gas drilling activities.