Pads are
positive
Pad drilling is one of the
positive trends benefit-
ing contractors like aKita
drilling.
once shale gas and in situ
bitumen resources are estab-
lished, producers drill large
numbers of wells from single
surface locations—drilling
pads—to drive down costs.
it means rigs don’t have to
rely on roads or favourable
surface conditions after each
well is drilled. Soft grounds
can restrict rig movement
in western canada, particu-
larly in northern areas. But
the ability of pad rigs to drill
well after well from the same
surface location dramatically
improves utilization.
“these rigs essentially
run 300-plus days a year, and
in many cases almost every
day of the year,” Karl Ruud,
aKita’s president, recently
told shareholders.
the Daily Oil Bulletin, a
sister publication to Oilweek,
reported that Ruud regards
bitumen drilling as “a very
positive part” of aKita’s
business. Ruud showed
shareholders a picture of
a rig at cold Lake, where it
would drill more than 20 ther-
mal bitumen wells from the
same pad.
in fact, Ruud is optimis-
tic about future activity
levels in alberta’s bitumen
plays: “global energy giants
are investing in this area….
Barring abnormal environ-
ment [related] or government
interference, that’s going to
serve aKita very well.”
onshore drilling is occurring
in several atlantic provinces.
most promising are the gas
discoveries in Québec’s
Utica shale, which are cur-
rently being evaluated for
development.
“”the shale boom also is likely to upend the economics of renew- able energy. it may be a lot harder to persuade people to adopt green power that needs heavy subsidies when there’s a cheap, plentiful fuel out there that’s a lot cleaner than coal, even if gas isn’t as politically popular as wind or solar. — amy myers Jaffe, the wallace S. wilson Fellow in energy Studies at the James a. Baker iii institute for Public Policy at Rice University in houston, writing about how recent discoveries of shale gas promise to shake up the nergy markets That’s what she said
