Pipeline News September 2011 by Estevan Mercury

PIPELINE NEWS Saskatchewan’s Petroleum Monthly

September 2011

Canada Post Publication No. 40069240

FREE

Volume 4 Issue 4

CAODC Sees Blue Skies Ahead Page A3 Tempco Adds Top Drive Rig Page B1 Rig Moving With Fast Trucking Page C1

FOCUS:

Drilling

Yorkton-based Crusader Drilling Corp. is now building its third rig designed for resource plays. Don Rae, left, is president of Crusader, while Clark Kovar is rig manager of Crusader Rig. 2. See story on Page B9. This high dynamic range photo by Brian Zinchuk is a combination of Àve exposures taken within one second.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

News

Notes Rig activity

Two thirds of drilling rigs were active in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin as of Aug. 24, according to Riglocator.ca. Saskatchewan peaked at 122 on Aug. 19, topping its record of 116 active rigs in Saskatchewan set just two weeks before. For much of August, Saskatchewan has been running in excess of 108 active rigs. That’s approximately one-quarter more than the number of active rigs during August 2010, and more than double the same month in 2009. A total of 533 rigs, or 66 per cent, were active in Western Canada on Aug. 24.

Horizontal wells are the majority Operators licensed 1,341 wells in July, up 11 per cent or 135 wells from July 2010, with about 54 per cent of the permits for horizontal wells. Over the ﬁrst seven months of 2011, the well count stands at 10,388, up 20 per cent over the January to July period last year and the highest tally since 2008, when 12,606 wells were approved by governments across Canada. A record 5,204 of the permits issued to the end of July this year were for horizontal holes, 50 per cent of the total. In 2008, almost 16 per cent of the well authorizations were for horizontal holes. The operators securing the most horizontal permits to the end of July were: Canadian Natural Resources Limited (357 licences), Penn West Petroleum Ltd. (265), Crescent Point Energy Corp. (240), Husky Energy Inc. (188) and Encana Corporation (182). The most frequently licensed total depth zones for horizontal wells were the Viking (745 licences), the Montney (556 permits), the Cardium (545 licences), the Bakken (359 authorizations) and the McMurray (198 permits). Of the seven-month total, 2,756 of the oil permits were in Saskatchewan (up from 1,766 last year), while 3,562 were in Alberta (up from 2,380 last year). In Manitoba, operators obtained 324 oil permits to the end of July, one less than the total for January to July in 2010. Briefs courtesy Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin

Steve Brand, who manages thermal production at CSS (cyclic steam stimulation) and SAGD (steam assisted gravity drainage) operations for Husky, was one of last year’s keynote presenters at the Heavy Oil Technical Symposium in Lloydminster. Husky will be represented at this year’s event on Sept. 14-15 by Karl Miller, a reservoir engineering specialist on a new panel discussion of heavy oil recovery methods.

Lloyd symposium to key on oil recovery By Geoff Lee Pipeline News Lloydminster – Mark Bacon from Champion Technologies will deliver the opening remarks to guests and delegates at the 18th annual Heavy Oil Technical Symposium Sept. 14-15 in two official languages – English and heavy oilspeak. Bacon is vice-chairman of the Lloydminster chapter of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) that is hosting the symposium at the Lloydminster Stockade Convention Centre. His job will include welcoming the lineup of presenters and their topics laced with technical and scientific titles. Topics such as Formulation of an Emulsified Thermal Acid Blend for SAGD Applications in Eastern Alberta and Characterizing and Identifying Origins of

Natural Gas and Waters Using NRG Forensics may challenge SPE hosts, but they meet the industry focus organizers look for in planning the itinerary. Bacon said choosing topics for the event boiled down to relating presentations to what the focus is of the industry is in the Lloydminster area to maximize professional interest and attendance. The complete itinerary and registration forms are posted online at the Lloydminster.spe.org website. Bacon said some of the topics that were rejected dealt with issues such as waxing problems which are not signiﬁcant to most Lloydminster heavy oil operations. “We were looking at areas that would be a little more interesting for the people who would be attending,” he said. ɸ Page A6

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

CAODC sees blue sky ahead for drilling By Geoﬀ Lee

bile, so it makes it very difficult to get on a lease and get on some of those back roads and secondary roads Calgary, Alta. – It’s a good time to be in the oil when roads are washed out or bridges aren’t in good and gas drilling business, particularly in Saskatch- shape,” he said. “On the service rig side in particular, it was a ewan. The provincial drilling rig utilization hit a hit a little bit of a challenge for sure, just from a mobility high of 79 per cent on Aug. 19 with 122 rigs active – issue alone. “I don’t think anyone had any relief from the a snapshot of what lies ahead for the rest of 2011 in weather, but the service rig guys took a disproporWestern Canada. tional hit, I think,” The good news inScholz said. cludes a pending wage With drier hike for rig crews of weather ahead, approximately 10 per COADC is stickcent effective Oct. 1 ing with its 2011 for members of the forecast for a 65 per Canadian Association cent rig overall utiliof Oilwell Drilling zation in the fourth Contractors based in quarter in Western Calgary. Canada with Sas“The industry, katchewan among particularly on the the leaders. drilling and the ser“I would probvice rig side, is very ably say Saskatchhealthy right now,” ewan would be one said Mark Scholz who of the beneficiaries took over as president of that higher utiliof CAODC on Aug. zation forecast,” said 1. Scholz. “We are seeing “What we are strong activity both seeing is that activiin Saskatchewan, and ty will continue into really right across the fourth quarter, if Western Canada. Sasnot get stronger. katchewan certainly “Alberta is a litwould be one of the tle bit lower. We are leaders in terms of seeing a lot of interoverall utilization. “The week of Aug. CAODC president Mark Scholz says high drilling rig uti- est in the heavy oil 23, we were already lization rates currently in effect in Western Canada will side there – in Sassitting at around 67 continue throughout 2011. CAODC will also take further katchewan there is per cent utilization in steps to develop a labour recruiting and retention strat- a lot of appetite for that Bakken play. Saskatchewan. That’s egy this fall for rig crews. “Certainly very high.” with the commodScholz attributed the current drilling rush in Saskatchewan to drier ity prices with the way they are with oil hovering conditions following weeks of record rainfall that around the $85 mark, it still makes it very economiswamped oilfields in the southeast corner of the cal to continue with those oil projects,” he said. Wages and utilization trends are both on the province earlier this year. “What we are hearing is that things are starting agenda at a fall CAODC annual general meeting are starting to dry up. With that comes the opportu- Sept. 8 in Calgary. “Basically, what we will be introducing is going nity to continue the work that was planned prior to over the recent wage recommendations that we are the rain,” said Scholz. Scholz said service rig companies were among coming out with for the crews – that along with a the hardest hit by the wet weather that kept vehicles general discussion about where the industry is going in terms of utilization,” said Scholz. and crews from getting on to lease sites. ɸ Page A7 “Ninety-nine per cent of our service rigs are mo-

News

Notes

Dodsland wells average 80 boepd Penn West Petroleum Ltd., said it is in full development mode in many parts of its Colorado Viking play and drilled 54 net wells in the ﬁrst half of 2011. In the main development area at Dodsland/Avon Hills, production per well is averaging approximately 80 boepd for the ﬁrst month. The company said that low capital costs per well make these rates highly economic. In the second half of 2011, the company plans to continue development in the Dodsland/Avon Hills/Kerrobert areas of western Saskatchewan and continue appraisal of the Alberta side of this large play trend. It expects to drill 35 to 40 additional net wells this year.

Wet conditions challenge Enerplus Extremely wet weather conditions in key producing regions across Western Canada and the U.S. presented challenges for many oil and gas producers during the second quarter of 2011, including Enerplus. Access to leases in Saskatchewan and North Dakota was limited due to ﬂooding and road bans, which impacted the company's ability to move rigs and equipment and, in some areas, its ability to truck oil. These weather conditions delayed the execution of the company's drilling program by one to two months in these areas. Enerplus invested $145 million of capital during the quarter drilling 14.1 net wells. Approximately 60 per cent of spending was directed to oil projects, primarily in the Bakken and 33 per cent in the Marcellus. Non-operated partners continued to be active in the Deep Basin area of Alberta and at Taylorton in southeast Saskatchewan. As a result of the unusually wet weather conditions in the Williston Basin, the company experienced a second consecutive quarter of lower than anticipated activity in its Bakken/tight oil resource play. The company participated in the drilling of 1.6 net wells at Taylorton, Saskatchewan. Briefs courtesy Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin

EDITORIAL

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Pipeline News Publisher: Brant Kersey - Estevan Ph: 1.306.634.2654 Fax: 1.306.634.3934

Mission Statement: Pipeline News’ mission is to illuminate importance of Saskatchewan oil as an integral part of the province’s sense of community and to show the general public the strength and character of the industry’s people.

Editorial Contributions: SOUTHEAST Brian Zinchuk - Estevan 1.306.461.5599 SOUTHWEST Swift Current 1.306.461.5599 NORTHWEST Geoﬀ Lee - Lloydminster 1.780.875.6685

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Published monthly by the Prairie Newspaper Group, a division of Glacier Ventures International Corporation, Central Oﬃce, Estevan, Saskatchewan. Advertising rates are available upon request and are subject to change without notice. Conditions of editorial and advertising content: Pipeline News attempts to be accurate, however, no guarantee is given or implied. Pipeline News reserves the right to revise or reject any or all editorial and advertising content as the newspapers’ principles see ﬁt. Pipeline News will not be responsible for more than one incorrect insertion of an advertisement, and is not responsible for errors in advertisements except for the space occupied by such errors. Pipeline News will not be responsible for manuscripts, photographs, negatives and other material that may be submitted for possible publication. All of Pipeline News content is protected by Canadian Copyright laws. Reviews and similar mention of material in this newspaper is granted on the provision that Pipeline News receives credit. Otherwise, any reproduction without permission of the publisher is prohibited. Advertisers purchase space and circulation only. Rights to the advertisement produced by Pipeline News, including artwork, typography, and photos, etc., remain property of this newspaper. Advertisements or parts thereof may be not reproduced or assigned without the consent of the publisher. The Glacier group of companies collects personal information from our customers in the normal course of business transactions. We use that information to provide you with our products and services you request. On occasion we may contact you for purposes of research, surveys and other such matters. To provide you with better service we may share your information with our sister companies and also outside, selected third parties who perform work for us as suppliers, agents, service providers and information gatherers.

Editorial Biting into technology So often we hear about how technology has really opened up Saskatchewan’s oilpatch in recent years, bringing life to ﬁelds like the Bakken and Lower Shaunavon that were long known, but not easily exploited. Everyone from CEOs to cabinet ministers and premiers will include a reference to technological advances in their speeches. Usually, they are talking about horizontal, multi-stage hydraulic fracturing. What doesn’t get a lot of press, but is revolutionary in its own way, is the sharp end of the drilling rig – the drill bit. In recent years, the polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) bit has come to the fore, even if it has been around for decades. Its impact on eﬃciency is widespread, but little noticed. For the longest time, the tricone bit was king. With three carbide or tooth-encrusted rotating cones, it would grind away at the rock. The PDC cuts, rather than grinds, the rock. Instead of rotating cones, it has blades, usually for four to six, with numerous industrial man-made diamonds brazed onto them. While some people may refer to packers and frac ports as a “string of jewels,” these drill bits have more diamonds than a Hollywood star on Oscar night, just not as pretty. More importantly, they drill like crazy. We noted this in a 2009 story on Panther Drilling: One of the biggest improvements in drilling in the Bakken is also very recent, according to toolpush Brian Honig, salesperson Bernie Bjorndalen, and well site supervisor Greg Sawatzky. The switch from older tri-cone style bits to polycrystalline diamond Cutter (PDC) bits has had a tremendous impact. The build section, where the directional drilling transitions the wellbore from vertical to horizontal, used to take two or three bits to complete, including tripping out to change the bit. Each bit would get about 30 drilling hours, according to Sawatzky. “Now we’re drilling everything in 20-25 hours in the build section with one PDC.”

“We’re one of the first rigs to consistently do it. We’ve never looked back.” That, and other improvements, have led to a dramatic shortening in how long it takes to drill a Bakken well. They can now gamma log and drill to the kick off point, logging the last 200 m of true vertical depth. This provides the ability to see formation tops on the way down. Honig said, “When we first started, they were over two weeks. Now, they are down to 7, 8 days, from spud to rig release.” Since then, PDC bits are now used in the vast, vast majority of cases in the southeast, according to Baker Hughes bit salesperson Rob Somerville. Drilling time is about half of what it used to be. Two drilling company presidents pointed out to us that while the switch to PDC bits is important, so too has been advancement in mud motors, different styles of muds and their properties. They have had a tremendous impact, almost as much as the PDC bit. The reduced drilling time, in turn, means that oil companies can drill just about twice as many holes in the same amount of time, meaning they can produce that much more. The province, and freehold mineral rights holders end up collecting more royalties. Everyone in the drilling supply chain gets a shot in the arm. If rigs can drill in half the time, they need to be moved twice as much, a boon to the rig movers. The mud suppliers have that many more holes to take care of. Truckers need to bring out twice as much pipe. And pipeliners now have more wells to flowline. Imagine if we could double productivity or efficiency in other areas of our life – like being able to haul twice as much on a load. The PDC drill bits may not have opened up new oilfields like hydraulic multi-stage fracking has, but it they made the economics for nearly all wells better. Perhaps that should be mentioned in a few speeches, too.

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Opinion Southeast Saskatchewan from the air From the top of the pile Brian Zinchuk

While writing a story about Fast Trucking this month, I had an opportunity to see what they do from a slightly different perspective – in their helicopter, several hundred feet above. Indeed, we covered a fair bit of ground that day, starting in Estevan, going to Carnduff, a rig move south of Gainsborough, and another rig move north of Stoughton before returning to Estevan. When you’re a company as big as Fast, with up to seven rig moves going on simultaneously across southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba, the utility of having a helicopter quickly becomes apparent. I would like to thank Fast Trucking for the opportunity to see southeast Saskatchewan from the air. It really opened my eyes. It just so happened that on this day, Nickle’s Rig Locator (riglocator.ca) recorded a whopping 122 active drilling rigs in Saskatchewan. That’s significant, because two weeks earlier, Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin (dailyoilbulletin.com) reported that a record had been set for Saskatchewan at 116 that week. You might notice that number come up a few times in my stories this month because, frankly, it’s impor-

tant. Let’s put this into perspective: for the last two years, Saskatchewan’s total rig ﬂeet has been running around 120. If it had stayed at that level this year, we would be at 100 per cent utilization. We’re not, however, because 20 to 30 rigs migrated to Saskatchewan in 2011. So now we’re running utilization rates around 75% or higher on any given day. I was surprised to hear this month that the rig companies I spoke to had been able to activate all their rigs. They might be a bit short of people, but not as short as I

expected. During our ﬂights we ﬂew over numerous active rigs, at least a dozen. In one place there were two side-by-side. I think that was close to Kisbey. I got pictures of most of them, although I missed my chance to get a photo looking down the crown as we passed almost directly over one. That was a

sight to see. There were so many, you couldn’t swing a dead cat out there without hitting a rig. What was also evident was the need for rig matting. Many of the leases we flew over were nearly completely matted, and for good reason. The rig we visited in the morning during a move was close to the definition of a soup hole, yet it had been largely dry for over a month. There’s a reason Fast Trucking has those really big trucks. And it also explains why mat companies like Lougheed Welding & Fabrication, whom my colleague Geoff Lee wrote about this month, has their phone ringing off the hook. Many of those calls were from the Estevan area, and I believe it. There are still many wells surrounded by water. We flew over one right of way that initially looked like a canal. Some roads are still submerged as well, two-thirds of the way into August. The area west of Lampman still looks like a lake, at least as much as I was able to see. We flew over pipeline crews at work, lease builders putting a lease back, and a seismic crew working just north of Estevan. The level of activity was amazing. It also reminded me of how important the oilpatch is for jobs compared to farming. I saw an awful lot more people out there in Nomex running heavy equipment or rigs than I did on tractors or sprayers. Yes, folks, things are hopping out there. From nearly everyone I talked to, they will be until at least spring breakup. As one person put it, the next days off are when it rains, or Christmas Eve. Brian Zinchuk is editor of Pipeline News. He can be reached at brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net.

Ontario smog nothing to be smug about At the end of a federal and provincial ministers’ energy conference in Kananaskis, Alberta in July, Ontario couldn’t agree with language in a conference communiqué that calls the oilsands a “responsible and major supplier of energy to the world.” While Ontario should be lauded for its efforts towards replacing coal-fired energy plants with solar and wind power to reduce greenhouse gases, it is a fact that its own economy is now not sustainable without the equalization payments it receives from oil-rich Alberta and Saskatchewan. A little bit of recognition of the fact is due. The same day the energy conference ended, there was a report in the National Post noting Ontario is the second largest recipient of equalization payments that will total $2.2 billion this year, thanks largely to the energy sector in Western Canada that they criticize. Only Quebec, which takes in $7.8-billion in such payments, receives more than Ontario. Federal equalization payments to Ontario have risen 534 per cent in the two years since the province received its first payment. Which province then does not have a sustainable or responsible economy? Time after time, oil companies, particularly in Alberta, report that the industry is one of the most stringently regulated in the world. Although there are major environmental issues

of millions of dollars into cleaner oil extraction and production methods and technology, as is Saskatchewan, a fact that gets conveniently lost in the “tarsands” smearing that goes on. If Ontario had signiﬁcant oil, they would be pumping it at the same rate and pride as Saskatchewan and Alberta do, to generate revenue that will beneﬁt the rest of Canada. (Canada’s initial oil Geoff Lee strike was at Petrolia, Ontario, by the way, which still produces a tiny amount of oil.) It would also mean Saskatchewan and Alberta to be resolved in the oil sands, oil will continue to would have more of their own money to spend on drive the economy of every province for years to improving the lives of their own citizens. The fact that Alberta and Saskatchewan have come. Fort McMurray, where all that “dirty tarsands” huge reserves of oil should be a matter of national pride that will enable Ontario and other have-not comes, from doesn’t have smog days like Ontario. Perhaps Alberta and Saskatchewan should provinces to build up their economic engines once lobby Ontario to shut down its “dirty unsustain- again. Biting the hand that feeds you is never a good able cities and highways” and quit buying gasoline from the west and see how far wind will carry the idea, especially since Albertans are still smarting from the big bite that the Trudeau government tore economy. The Canadian Wind Energy Association re- out of the provincial oil and gas economy with their ports that as May 2011, total Canadian wind power National Energy Program in the early ’80s. Who knows, one day Ontario could be arguing generating capacity is only 4,588 megawatts or two for a national green policy too, once they get wind per cent of the national electrical demand. Improvements in cleaner forms of energy take of the fact Saskatchewan and Alberta are two of time and at the moment there is no emerging com- windiest and sunniest provinces as well. In the meantime, the energy answer blowing in petitor to a gasoline-driven economy. the wind is oil. The Alberta government is investing hundreds

Lee Side of Lloyd

PIPELINE NEWS INVITES OPPOSING VIEW POINTS. EDITORIALS AND LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ARE WELCOME. Email to: brian.zinchuk@sasktel.net

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Got heavy oil?

Mike McIntosh, Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Lloydminster chairman, is turning over the task of opening remarks at the upcoming 18th annual Heavy Oil Technical Symposium in Lloydminster Sept. 14-15 to SPE vice-chair Mark Bacon. File photo

Appointment

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ɺ Page A2 “Traditionally in this area, it would the CHOPS, the cold heavy oil production with sand, that we usually have the focus on. “The idea is to be a more focused conference. This one, we are trying to make all of the topics applicable to the Lloydminster area.” The 2011 symposium will also be the first to feature a panel discussion on methods to increase the current heavy oil recovery rate. SPE chairman Mike McIntosh said the idea for a panel came up during an SPE evening meeting that turned into a discussion on recovery rates. “We got talking about it and said that might be a good discussion for the symposium. That’s where it’s kind of grown from,” he said. “Each participant is going to bring their own idea to the table and present it.” The industry trend toward the use of thermal applications to boost oil production is also reflected in the itinerary with a presentation titled, Changing the Paradigm: An Assessment of the Use of Steam Injection Control Devices in Canadian Thermal Heavy Oil Recovery Operations. “There is only so far you can get with CHOPS,” said Bacon, who is a thermal products sales and service rep for Champion in Lloydminster. “I think they can get about six per cent recovery whereas, once you switch over to a thermal project, you can get up to 60 per cent, so thermal is inevitable. You have to switch to it eventually if you want to keep producing a reservoir at some point. “The panel discussion should be very interesting for that. Mike (McIntosh) managed to get a few experts in the field on the panel. I will be very curious. It’s the first time we’ve done that. It will be interesting to see how it goes. “I suspect most of the guys will be pro thermal or adding heat to the reservoir somehow – whether that’s with a fireflood or steam flooding or whatever,” Bacon said. That focused panel discussion on heavy oil recovery is likely to spill over into a new “beer and chat” networking social that replaces the former banquet at the end of the first day. “It’s like anything you go to,” said McIntosh. “There’s a set presentation and once it’s done, you see smaller groups break off into more of a social networking type of environment and continue to discuss the previous discussion. “That’s part of the reason we positioned the panel discussion just before the networking event.” McIntosh expects 150 to 200 people to attend this year’s symposium that he hopes will be the best one way yet with the theme Got Heavy Oil? “You always hope to,” he said he during an Aug. 15 interview. “I think there are some really interesting topics here, so hopefully other people see it the same way, but you never know what the turnout is going to be until it actually happens. “We had some e-mail issues that we just sorted out in the last week, so registrations are really just starting to come in now due to issues on our end. “Historically, a large number of the registrations don’t start coming in until the last week of August and the first week of September.” Asked if he was getting excited with time ticking down he said, “Now it’s crunch time and there’s all the little details that we still have to take care of.” The SPE executive will huddle at least once more before the event to help Bacon write his opening remarks and assign tasks to other committee members. “Mark will do the opening remarks and after that we will break it down into other board members,” said McIntosh. “They will take a role and do introductions. I hope everyone on the board will be able to participate in some way.”

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Saskatchewan is seeing strong drilling rig utilization this summer. The day this photo of two rigs south of Moose Mountain was taken Aug. 19, there were 122 active drilling rigs in the province. For the month of August, Saskatchewan’s number of active rigs has been roughly one quarter higher than August 2010, and over double August 2009. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

'Load leveling' a cyclical industry ɺ Page A3 “There is going to be an increase around 10 per cent, give or take, for the various positions. It will be an increase that will be certainly welcomed in the ﬁeld for sure.” The wage increase is part of a developing strategy by CAODC to attract and retain new rig crews. The oilﬁeld services sector downsized 13,000 to 15,000 positions during the last downturn – more than any other sector, according to a 2011 petroleum labour market report by the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada. Many skilled rig workers failed to return when the economy picked up in 2010 due to the seasonal nature of oil and gas drilling. “I think wages are only one piece of an overarching strategy of attraction and retention,” said Scholz.

“I think it would be expected given the health of the industry, that some of that good economic health of the industry be passed down to the workers, and we’re seeing that. That’s what will happen on Oct. 1. “There are other issues that have to be looked at to address the labour shortage. You can increase wages all you want, but if you don’t have the people, it’s still going to a be a struggle to ﬁnd people,” he said. “Recruiting is the No. 1 issue. That’s what we are hearing from the ﬁeld and from our board of directors. Labour recruitment is a challenge.” The CAODC board will hold a strategic planning session in October with a long term plan for labour recruitment and retention in Western Canada up for discussion. Scholz says a labour strategy would include wages, temporary foreign workers, and what he calls

“load leveling.” “A big one for us is ‘load leveling’ – that has to be a discussion with the operators,” he said. “What I mean by load leveling is we work in a very cyclical industry where we ramp up really quickly and then spring break hits, and everybody is not working for several months. “So that causes some challenges with respect to retention. Guys want to work year round. “We are competing against industries like the construction industry and Fort Mac and the oilsands. They don’t have those interruptions that we do in the conventional oil drilling industry. There are many things that are going to be on the table for discussion. “Wages, load levelling and foreign work recruitment are just part of the picture we will have to look at as part of the longer term strategy,” Scholz said.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Lougheed Àooded with rig mat orders Story and photos by Geoﬀ Lee

port 6-inch by 6- inch spruce timbers. They also make what’s called a crane mat or a dig mat in a four-by-20 Nisku, Alta. – A rainy spring and format using 12-by-12 fir timbers summer in the Western Canadian oil- bolted together without a steel frame. Interlocking mats are made in a field has triggered a flood of rig mat manufacturing and sales at Lougheed similar fashion to steel framed rig mats Welding & Fabrication based in Ni- but they hook together at the ends. Harp said most of the mats are sku, Alberta. Company president, Donna Harp, heading to Estevan and some of the said the demand for steel frame rig surrounding areas and into flood ravmats they make at Lougheed Welding aged parts of North Dakota. “They were in terrible trouble was already strong before the onset of rain and flooding in southeastern down there, and there is quite a deSaskatchewan sent sales orders and mand for them here too because of the wet areas up north, but Saskatchewan manufacturing into overdrive. “It’s tremendous. It’s really good,” seems to be our newest best friend. “In Saskatchewan, it’s mostly said Harp about the demand for mats small companies that we are dealing this year. “Even without the rain, the call with – the guys that are growing. “Most of the time we can’t profor matting has really increased with duce mats right away because we have the activity that is going to happen a waiting list, but we have been able to this year with drilling. “With all the rain, that’s brought come up with satisfactory time periods on some unforeseen business. We are for them. “The matting that we are selling going flat out. I expect it will be the there is not matting that links togethsame for the rest of the year. “I am hoping for the next two or er. They are all individual mats.” Rig mats are typically used to supthree years, we are going flat out – port a variety of equipment at a lease wheels coming off,” Harp said. Lougheed Welding custom builds sites, construction sites or for pipeline steel framed mats to any width and crossings and agricultural applicalength using high quality steel I-beam tions. ɸ Page A9 on the outer and inner frame to sup-

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Liked the mats so much they bought the company Lougheed Welding has an outdoor manufacturing facility down the road from its main office under the direction of Harp’s business partner and general manager, Jeff Symes. Symes refers to the types of steel frame mats that make at the yard as a three runner or four runner (number of Ibeams used) in all different widths and lengths. In a nutshell Symes said, “We make a steel frame with a six-by-six wood blocking that runs the length of it.” Lougheed Welding’s competitive niche is the steel frame that Symes says won’t bend or break and is made to be opened up to replace worn or broken spruce timbers. “I know that we put a little more time and effort into the frame itself,” said Symes, who looks after a staff of nine welders and half a dozen labourers. “Our feeling is that we will make you the strongest frame that can be made. If anything is going to be sacrificial, it’s going to be the wood. We are going to make it easy to repair the wood.” The two-acre yard is divided into various open air work stations including a wood saw area next to an assembly area where workers install cut spruce into the frame. There is also a welding tent and three-sided shed where Symes supervises the frame assembly and the patch cuts in the frame to slot in the timbers. The frame patches are re-welded and inspected on both sides and ready for shipment in another open air area. “When you are welding with a stick, air quality is a concern,” said Symes, who says the outdoor workshop is an efficient operation despite being subjected to the elements. “We grew up outdoors. We played outdoors. I’ve worked outdoors all my life. It’s a not a big deal,” he said as

a thunderstorm was rolling in from the west. Symes says the rainy weather and the strong demand for mats this year is keeping his crews busy with some overtime weekend work, but that’s OK by him. “Anyone who knows the oilpatch knows it’s feast or famine,” he said. “It’s hurry up and go. The market predicts what you are going to have to do. Right now, it’s fairly busy.” Two years ago, Lougheed Welding laid off staff in the downturn. That was when when Harp said the company saw a business need to diversify. The four-acre yard at the main office is rented to Saxon Energy Services that manufactures drilling rigs, and the sign on the door alerts visitors to a spinoff business called Nisku Security Patrol Inc. “We do mobile patrol services here in the park and all over,” said Harp. “We do stationary guards, and we started doing quite a few events like rodeos.” In fact, Harp and her personal partner, Jim, have a half section of land east of Wetaskiwin where they raise Texas longhorns and compete in the Canadian Senior

Pro Rodeo circuit in roping competitions. This year, she can’t ride her horse across the Battle River that runs through her property due to high water levels and strong currents. The floodwaters that hit the Estevan area earlier this year also caused her to pause and reflect on memories of her early days in Regina and Estevan where she attended Grade 1. “Oh my goodness,” she said. “I didn’t recognize anything there, of course, because everything looked so tragic. It’s just unbelievable, isn’t it? Asked if she could visualize her rigs mats in those TV images of flooded oilfields, Harp laughed and said, “No, I didn’t have a visual of that,” but she revealed that’s when her phone starting ringing off the hook. “We are working with some new customers there. It’s always nice to have new customers that you are servicing and making them happy. “That’s one of the things I really like about this business. People are happy to be calling you and happy to get their product.” Harp and Symes bought the company in

2005 from founder and friend, Al Lougheed, who had mats for rent at Harp’s Coyote Oilfield Rentals business that she started. “I had three or four different manufacturers’ rig mats, and the Lougheed was by far the toughest mat,” said Harp. “It was the easiest to repair if it was damaged. The steel virtually never gets damaged. They just don’t get bent or twisted.” Harp says buying the company was a good fit for her because she knew the product and the customer base was similar to her oilfield rental business. “I knew the industry, so it worked out well for me,” she said. Harp moved with her parents from Louisiana to Regina in the mid-’50s and to Estevan in 1956 when her dad was transferred to Canada by Hunt Oil, followed by a move to Calgary in 1957. When her dad started his own company, Harp Oilfield Rentals in Nisku, she moved there to help manage it. Her dad retired in 1982, and joined her at Coyote which was sold to Newalta in 2005. The rest is history.

Company president, Donna Harp, says Lougheed Welding is having a banner year with increased drilling and wet weather across Western Canada. In her spare time, Harp competes in the Canadian Senior Pro Rodeo in roping events and raises Texas longhorns on her ranch.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Husky warms to thermal, emerging plays Lloydminster – Husky Energy Inc. nearly quadrupled its second quarter profits compared to the same period in 2010 with higher production coming from its emerging oil and gas plays in Western Canada. A higher proportion of heavy oil production in the Lloydminster area is expected to come from new thermal projects with less reliance on primary production with sand. The Calgary-based company reported net earnings of $669 million in the quarter compared with $179 million a year earlier. Production also jumped to an average of 311,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 283,900 during the same quarter in 2010 despite forest fire and pipeline disruptions in the Slave Lake region of Alberta that reduced volumes. The company closed a $1.2 billion share offering in the quarter to finance its growth strategy that includes plans to maintain heavy oil production levels with accelerated thermal projects in the Lloydminster area. Construction of the 8,000 bpd South Pikes Peak thermal project east

of Lloydminster is on schedule and on budget with first production expected in mid-2012. The 3,000 bpd Paradise Hill thermal development northeast of Lloydminster is also on schedule to be in operation in the third quarter of 2012. More thermal production is planned as Husky says these projects have lower finding and development costs than some new CHOPS wells (cold heavy oil production with sand). “Currently our overall heavy oil production is in the range of 100,000 barrels per day with the vast majority coming from the Lloydminster region,” said Rob Peabody, chief operating officer during a conference call on July 27. “Our current thermal production is the range of 18,000 to 20,000 bpd.” “With these projects coming onstream in the next five years we are looking to increase our thermal production into the range of about 40,000 bpd. “That will be offset by some decline in CHOPS production because as we are moving toward the edge of the reservoir and on some of the chops wells F & D costs are rising. ɸ Page A11

This drilling rig could be found working some of Husky’s recently acquired Oungre properties in August. The company Husky acquired 11,500 acres in the Bakken formation in south central Saskatchewan, adjacent to its Oungre oil resource lands. According to Riglocator.ca record, two rigs were working in the area for Husky. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

A11

Husky expands Bakken lands in southeast ɺ Page A10 “By bringing on these thermal projects, we actually help drive our F & D and cost back down.” In other heavy oil news, the Lloydminster Husky Upgrader will undergo a minor turnaround in September and October to allow for an inspection of equipment. During that period, the upgrader will operate at 70 to 80 per cent capacity. More conventional oil and liquids-rich gas production is expected in Western Canada as Husky steps up the development of its growing resources properties in Saskatchewan and Alberta and British Columbia. Husky has a Western Canada oil resource land base of approximately 500,000 acres. “From a big picture standpoint, we plan to invest about $250 million through 2013 to develop our emerging oil resource plays and we have a strong pipeline of projects in development,” said Peabody. “We expect we will be able to grow into a 30,000 barrel a day business by the end of the planned period.” In the second quarter, Husky acquired 11,500 acres in the Bakken formation in south central Saskatchewan, adjacent to its Oungre oil resource lands. Husky now holds 18,700 net acres in this light oil play. Current production from four producing wells is approximately 600 bpd and two additional wells have been drilled and will be completed once wet conditions recede. Given the positive results from the ﬁrst Oungre Bakken wells, Husky has committed additional funds to accelerate the drilling and completion of 10 additional wells in the second half of 2011. Husky continues to develop its opportunities in the Lower Shaunavon zone in southern Saskatchewan, the Viking zone in southwest Saskatchewan and central Alberta, and in the northern Cardium re-

source trend at Wapiti and Kakwa in west central Alberta. Spring breakup and extended wet conditions delayed drilling and completion plans in the second quarter, however, Husky plans to accelerate its activities in the second half of the year. Two wells were also drilled at Husky’s central Alberta Viking oil resource project in the second quarter, following a six well drilling program in the ﬁrst quarter. A total of 11 Viking wells have been placed on production from this area along with another three from the southwestern Saskatchewan Viking oil resource project. Husky continues to build its gas resource portfolio in Alberta and British Columbia, with approximately 16,000 acres of new land acquired in the quarter, adding to an existing base of approximately 800,000 acres. “On the gas resource side, we also plan to invest about $250 million through 2013 to develop our liquids-rich gas assets,” said Peabody. “Much of those efforts will be focused on our Ansell play where we have a land base of about 150,000 net acres.” Husky drilled 21 wells in the liquids-rich Cardium formation wells at Ansell in west central Alberta in the

second quarter and another 12 Cardium and nine deeper multi-zone wells are planned in the second half of the year. The company is currently constructing additional offload capacity, which will increase total production capacity at Ansell to 56 mmcf/day and over 2,000 bpd of liquids. Husky also reports Phase 1 of the Sunrise Energy oilsands project located 60 kilometres northeast of Fort McMurray continues to progress on schedule towards planned first production in 2014. Drilling was completed in the second quarter on the first 12 SAGD horizontal well pairs, as part of 49 planned initial well pairs. SAGD drilling costs are trending on budget and on schedule, with the full drilling program forecast to be completed

in the third quarter of 2012. “Soon more than 1,700 contract workers will converge on the Sunrise Energy project site,” said Peabody. “In preparation for that heightened activity, Husky recently held a Sunrise Safety Summit. “The summit was designed to help key sunrise leaders understand our safety goals and expectations and to develop and employ a comprehensive health safety and environmental program for the Sunrise project. “We are building a very strong safety culture at sunrise and we are making it clear to every worker and contractor employed at the site that the highest standards and best safety practices will be required,” said Peabody. Conceptual development engineering for subsequent phases of the

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Sunrise project has been initiated and a full ﬁeld development plan is expected to be completed by the end of 2011. Progress continues at the Tucker Oil Sands project as Husky en-

hances its understanding of how to develop the reservoir. Production averaged 6,400 bpd during the quarter and Tucker exited the quarter in excess of 7,000 bpd.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Kudu Top Tag system boosts bottom line By Geoff Lee Lloydminster, – Kudos to Kudu Industries. The Calgary-based company that provides progressing cavity pump solutions to the oil and gas industry is spreading the word it has secured Canadian and U.S. patents for its proven Top Tag system for heavy oil applications. Top Tag is marketed as a product to increase pump life, improve wellbore agitation and decrease the number of burnt pumps among its list of benefits and advantages for heavy oil producers in a global market. Kudu has completed more than 3,000 installations of the Top Tag system on PC pumps in the Lloydminster area since the product hit the market in 2007. “Having that patent in hand now just confirms that we have designed and engineered something that is new and unique to the marketplace,” said Kris Kykkanen, sales manager for Kudu in Lloydminster. “It’s just another innovation that Kudu brought to the marketplace and enables producers to enhance their oil recovery,” he said. The Top Tag system is the industry’s first engineered PC Top Tag (PC pump), allowing users to locate the rotor inside the stator without using the standard tag bar that is prone to pump intake plugging. “We are able to reduce interventions, reduce flushing and reduce loading, and the frequency of burnt pumps because we no longer have an intake on the stator that will plug,” said Kykkanen. “Intake is always open to the annulus. Any fluid that comes into the annulus can be agitated by the paddle rotor to access the pump intake.” The exposed rotor in the annulus also generates more mixing of sand and oil while increasing gas

A paddled rotor, part of the Kudu Top Tag system for PC pumps, directly agitates the Áuid within the casing rather than being limited to the Áuid entering a tag bar.

breakout through the annulus instead of the stator. The Top Tag reduces rotor breakage too, since the rotor is never run in compression on a tag bar. “They’ve been a great success story for Kudu in Lloydminster,” said Kykkanen, who noted the product is applicable to PC pumps in vertical and horizontal heavy oil wells. “It was something that was essentially brought out locally. We had a number of internal stakeholders and some producers who came to us and mentioned that they had problems with these types of things. “It’s good to be able to bring something to the market that customers wanted, recognized a need for, and now recognize the benefits of it, “said Kykkanen. “We are looking to help producers save money and produce more. That’s what every shareholder wants – to see an increase in production and a drop in costs. This is technology that allows them to do that. “We thought by removing anything below the stator was going to be a benefit to us,” said Kykkanen about the initial development stage. “The tag bar really had two functions – to provide a pump intake and to provide a locating device. “We took that locating device and moved it from the bottom of the pump to the top of the pump, and that enables us to have unlimited access to our intake.” Kudu’s Top Tag also costs less to purchase than a standard tag bar, and it lowers operating costs with fewer well interventions needed. The intake always stays open with the Top Tag system and increases fillage because the fluid can access the pump intake. ɸ Page A13

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Increased accessibility of coil ewan and an endless list of new products including its patented rotor coating called the Tough Coat for light, medium and heavy PC pump applications. Tough Coat is a spray metal coating designed to improved rotor resistance to corrosion and abrasion compared to a typical chrome rotor with lon-

ger rotor life, increased production efficiency and lower operating costs. “It’s a simple, costeffective coating that can be applied to bare metal,” said Kykkanen. “We see great results with that rotor coating. Maintaining the rotor coating allows the pump to maintain its efficiency.

“If we lose our rotor coating – if the chrome erodes or corrodes, then we lose the ability to hold our friction ﬁts and hold our seal lines, and then we have pump failure. “That’s another innovation that we continue to reﬁne. That’s an in-house innovation as well,” he said in conclusion.

This diagram show the Top Tag installation on a PC pump that eliminates plugged pump intake problems among its many beneÀts to heavy oil producers. Image submitted

ɺ Page A12 “We also get better agitation of the sand that is inside the wellbore,” said Kykkanen. “We get better mixing action with that sand to try to dilute that content as it enters the pump.” The Top Tag system can be removed and easily installed on a replacement stator. A worn Top Tag plate can be replaced instead of the entire collar bar. “With a Top Tag you can run coil right down through the pump and have access to the sump because there is no other tag bar there to run a coil through,” said Kykkanen. “We have increased the accessibility of coil to clean out a sump.” Kudu’s PC pump solutions are supported and serviced by industry specialists and incorporate unique designs for

a variety of well conditions. “The Top Tag is just part of our success story,” said Kykkanen. “Kudu is also able to look at the complete system. Whether it’s the drivehead, a power unit, the tubing, the rods, the pump, the well and accessories – all these things have to work in conjunction together to create production. “If any of those components break down, then you’ve got an issue. You may have to service or intervene within that wellbore with a ﬂush or coil tubing. “We take pride that we can oﬀer unique solutions such as Top Tag, but also we provide good technical support for any other issues producers may be having,” said Kykkanen. Kudu has more than 13 locations throughout Alberta and Saskatch-

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Looks like we got us a convoy Tom Jack, a.k.a. Trucker Tom, hopped on the deck on an Action Towing truck to address the crowd at start of the Tony’s Convoy for Hope cancer fundraiser. This year, 28 trucks made the trip from Vermilion to Lloydminster.

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Story and photos by Geoff Lee Vermilion – Tony’s Convoy for Hope is proving to be good medicine for cancer survivors and oilfield trucking companies that take part in the annual fundraiser for the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton. More than $29,000 was raised to fight cancer with 28 trucks making the trip from Vermilion to Lloydminster on July 23. A year ago, the inaugural event called the Convoy for the Cure, raised approximately $17,600 with a convoy of 35 trucks. It’s the larger fundraising amount that means the most to organizers Tom Jack, and his wife, Janice King, who own and operate Tom Jack Trucking. “Truckers’ schedules change by the minute,” said Jack who hauls oil, water and condensate for W-K Trucking in Mundare, Alberta. “The oilpatch is busy, but the people who couldn’t make it still gave money.” This year’s convoy was named in honour of Jack’s brother in-law, Tony Rossi from Toronto, who died of cancer

shortly after last year’s event. “Everyone’s got their own story on why they are here,” stressed Jack. “We give them an outlet to honour a loved one or a family member that has battled cancer.” Next year, Rossi’s wife, Pat, who is also Jack’s sister and a breast cancer survivor, plans to be in the convoy. One of the most touching moments of the event was the sight of Dale Winnacott writing the names of cancer survivors and those who died from the disease on the windows of a bus he drove to the event for his Tibear Coaches in Lashburn. His sister, Pat Pierce, held open the pages of a book to read out the names of each person being remembered on the bus – including some members of Winnacott’s own family stricken by cancer. “The ones that I have just put on are the four that have passed and one that is a survivor. We have seven or more in our family that have died with cancer,” said Winnacott. Winnacott oﬀered seats for sale as a fundraiser for people to name

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either a cancer survivor or a member of their family who has died from cancer. Leftover seats were given to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lloydminster. Winnacott operates an executive coach owned by PWM Steel in Lloydminster that is used by their sponsored hockey teams. He also busses oilfield employees to and from Christmas parties with three buses in Lashburn and two in Saskatoon. Allan Wruth, owner of AK Oilfield in Vermilion rolled, into the staging area at the Vermilion Stadium Arena in a truck limousine from Black Magic Limo Service in Lloydminster with nine employees on board. Wruth operates a fleet of pressure trucks, vac trucks and steamers in the Vermilion area and says he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to support a good cause, especially with the convoy starting in his home town. “I was going to be in it and I figured the money is going to go to a good cause and stay in Alberta,” he said. “I’ve be hearing about the convoy for the last couple of years, and I figured this would be a good opportunity for myself and my family to represent AK Oilfleld.” Rick Young is the owner and driver of the Black Magic limo who was glad to make it available for the day. Young was also in the convoy as the owner of Rick’s Hauler in Lloydminster with his fleet of two semis and three fluid haulers serving the oilfield. “I met Tom ( Jack) down at Chauvin and we got to know each other a little bit and I decided we can do something for him,” said Young about how he got involved in the convoy. ɸ Page A15

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

John Buhnai, owner of Action Towing near Kitscoty, pins a cancer ribbon on his shirt after arriving for Tony’s Convoy for Hope in his Tow Mater tow truck.

Cancer survivor Bob Clarke, area manager for Gibson Energy in Lloydminster, displays a cancer Àghting banner to attach to his Gibson Driver Simulator truck entered in the convoy for hope.

A15

Tom Jack decorates his Àre engine red Western Star truck that led off a convoy of 28 trucks from Vermilion to Lloydminster.

Cancer convoy good medicine for all ɺ Page A14 “We gave them $1,000 and my daughter is driving one of my semis and she raised about $2,000. Everybody’s supporting and that’s what we need. “My mother-in-law and my aunt have both had breast cancer so anything that helps ﬁght cancer is good for us.” Participating in Tony’s Convoy for Hope also tugged at the heartstrings of Bob Clarke, area manager for Gibson Energy in Lloydminster. “We were invited to join in the convoy last year

by one of other service vendors that works with us,” said Clarke. “It’s a good cause, and a great event to promote a bit of pride back in trucking. “I am a cancer survivor so it’s a little near and dear to my heart. Last year, we raised over $1,000, and this year we are hoping to double that. “I think it’s a tremendous event for industry as a whole. I don’t know if anybody isn’t aﬀected by cancer. “If you ask anyone in Canada, they have somebody in their family that’s aﬀected by cancer. It’s go-

ing to be a good day.” For the second year in a row, John Buhnai and his wife Ginette from Action Towing near Kitscoty brought their Tow Mater to the convoy, arguably the largest tow truck in Western Canada. “Tom called us a couple of years ago and told us he was organizing this convoy,” said Buhnai. “We donate to every other cause around – baseball games and hockey teams and curling teams, and this time it was something to do with trucks, so we got onboard right away last year. ɸ Page A16

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Right: Brook Rose, left, from the Alberta Cancer Foundation, poses with Janice King, the wife of lead event organizer, Tom Jack, with the event banner in the background. Tonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Convoy for Hope raised about $29,000 for the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton.

Dale Winnacott, owner of Tibear Coaches in Lashburn, writes the names of cancer survivors on the window of his bus with help from his sister, Helen Pierce, who spells out the names from a memorial book.

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Éş Page A15 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real good cause all the way around. My wife had some cancer. I have a sister right now in Brandon General Hospital thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just had a cancer operation. My mom passed away a few years back in 1994. She had cancer, so I have got lots of cancer in our fam-

ily.â&#x20AC;? One of the biggest cheerleaders of the convoy is Brooke Rose, event promotion specialist for the Alberta Cancer Foundation, who came out to thank Jack and the truckers who get involved. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have had the pleasure of working with

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Tom Jack over the last few months,â&#x20AC;? said Rose. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a huge privilege for us to come out and thank him properly, and all of the drivers, truckers and participants that are all involved in such an incredible event. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They all have very busy schedules. They drive all over the country on a day-to-day basis. For them to be coming in one location to be a part of this is something special. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are actually 46,620 Albertans living with cancer, so each one of us will know a family or a friend or a neighbour touched by cancer and pushed to do something. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I know that all the truckers have their names and signage plastered on the side of their trucks, so hopefully everyone will be able to recognize a few, and these gentlemen and ladies can truly get the recognition they deserve.â&#x20AC;? Rose says all the funds go the Cross Cancer Institute â&#x20AC;&#x153;for research, prevention and screening as well as to enhance patient care to make sure the 16,000 Albertans that are being diagnosed this year have the best treatment and care possible.â&#x20AC;?

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

A17

New law to focus drivers in Alberta Â&#x201E; By GeoďŹ&#x20AC; Lee Edmonton, Alta. â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Read this story on Albertaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new distracted driving law with your vehicle in park. The new law goes into eďŹ&#x20AC;ect Sept. 1 and prohibits the use of hand-held cellphones for talking or texting, the use of other electronic devices, as well as reading, writing and personal grooming while driving. The new law is billed as the most comprehensive distract driving legislation in Canada and gives law enforcement agencies in Alberta an additional tool to help make roads safer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are sending an extremely strong traďŹ&#x192;c safety message to motorists across the province: When youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in your vehicle, your focus must be on driving,â&#x20AC;? said Frank Oberle, Solicitor General and Minister of Public Security. Drivers can still use cellphones or radio communication devices, but only if they use them in a hands-free or voice-activated manner. This means the device is not held in the driver's hand and is activated by voice or a single touch to the device. Drivers may use a hand-held citizenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band (CB) or two-way radio when escorting oversized vehicles, to contact their employer, or when participating in search, rescue and emergency management situations. To help Albertans prepare for the new law, the government is running a public education and awareness campaign that will provide information about the distracted driving law and how to comply with it. Advertising will run in newspapers, radio and online.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;During my 25-year career with the Calgary Police Service, I saw countless collisions and the often devastating consequences,â&#x20AC;? said Art Johnston, MLA, Calgary-Hays and sponsor of the bill. "I have been advocating for this legislation and am pleased to see Alberta's new distracted driving law come into eďŹ&#x20AC;ect. I would like to thank law enforcement and our traďŹ&#x192;c safety partners for their support." Several international studies show that 20 to 30 per cent of all collisions involve driver distraction, and distracted drivers are three times more likely to be involved in a collision than attentive drivers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This legislation is an example of Albertaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rm commitment to driver safety,â&#x20AC;? said Verlyn Olson, minister of Justice and Attorney General. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This legislation will raise awareness about the importance of distraction free driving, making roadways safer for all Albertans.â&#x20AC;?

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

A19

No sizzle in August land sale Regina – There was no sizzle or worry about the August summer sale of Crown petroleum and natural gas rights in Saskatchewan generating just $21.7 million revenue. The low revenue for the August sale and low numbers predicted for the next sale in October are considered par for the course as oil and gas companies shift into a drilling mode after months of record land acquisitions. The focus on drilling over acquiring new exploration rights is what Paul Mahnic, director of petroleum tenure, said would occur following the June land sale of $40.9 million. “At the end of the day, it’s the drilling that counts,” said Mahnic in the July Pipeline News. “We get back normally about 80 per cent of the land that we sell. “Industry knows that they are paying for something that they may not able to get to within the time of the term. “They know that’s the clock ticking. There are two years on exploration licences and ﬁve years on leases. Five years goes pretty quick in our business. “That’s not a lot of time if you’ve racked up hundreds of thousands of hectares of land that you have to drill. Those comments by Mahnic earlier this year echo the sentiment of Energy and Resource Minister Bill Boyd who was surprised by the smaller sale in August after two years of massive land acquisitions by industry. “The sale numbers demonstrate continuing and sustained interest in our oilpatch, but I believe what we’re also seeing now is an evaluation by companies of the properties they currently have, plus a budgetary focus on co-ordinating drilling programs in areas that had been aﬀected by the wet conditions this year,” said Boyd. ɸ Page A20

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A focus on drilling land already acquired may have impacted land sales this month, according to Minster of Energy and Resources Bill Boyd. This Partner Drilling rig, seen near Stoughton on Aug. 19, was one of 122 drilling rigs working in the province that day.

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A20

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

August drilling hot, land sales not ɺ Page A19 “Drilling continues to be ahead of last year, with a record number of rigs working in the province. And clearly the industry has conﬁdence in Saskatchewan, as evidenced by our province’s number one investment ranking for Canada in the Fraser Institute’s 2011 Global Petroleum Survey,” Boyd said. The August sale included 186 lease parcels that attracted the $21.7 million in bonus bids. The Weyburn-Estevan area received the most bids with sales of $11 million. The Lloydminster area was next at $5.7 million, followed by the Swift Current area at $2.8 million and the Kindersley-Kerrobert area at $2.2 million. The highest price for a single parcel was $1.1 million. Prairie Land & Investment Services Ltd. acquired this 518-hectare lease parcel southwest of Estevan. The highest price on a per-hectare basis was $8,889. Highrock Energy Ltd. and Villanova Oil Corp. cost-shared a bid of $779,911 for an 88-hectare lease parcel between Manor and Redvers. The next sale of Crown petroleum and natural gas and oil shale dispositions will be held on Oct. 3. Weyburn-Estevan area The top purchaser of acreage in this area was

Prairie Land & Investment Services Ltd. who spent $3,281,047 to acquire eight lease parcels. The top price paid for a single lease in this area was $1,130,758 by Prairie Land & Investment Services Ltd. for a 518 hectare parcel situated 17 kilometres southwest of the Tableland Winnipegosis, 26 kilometres southwest of Estevan. The highest dollar per hectare in this area was received from Highrock Energy Ltd and Villanova Oil Corp. (50/50 partners) who paid $8,889/hectare for a 88 hectare parcel located 3-km east of the Manor Lower Watrous-Alida Beds Pool, 22 kilometres west of Redvers. Lloydminster area The top purchaser of acreage in this area was Scott Land & Lease Ltd., that spent $1,723,593 to acquire 12 lease parcels. The top price paid for a single lease in this area was $678,852, paid by Scott Land & Lease Ltd. for a 210 hectare parcel situated twp kilometres east of the Turtlelake Colony and Waseca (Oil) Pools, six kilometres northeast of Edam. The highest dollar per hectare in this area was received from Contiguous Resources Ltd., who paid $6,738/hectare for a 16 hectare parcel located within the Manito Lake Sparky Sand (Oil) Pool, ﬁve kilo-

metres southwest of Marsden. Swift Current area The top purchaser of acreage in this area was Windfall Resources Ltd., who spent $2,066,589 to acquire ﬁve lease parcels. The top price paid for a single lease in this area was $722,245, paid by Windfall Resources Ltd. for a 259 hectare parcel situated adjacent to the Beverley North Cantuar Oil Pool, 35 kilometres west of Swift Current. The highest dollar per hectare in this area was received from Windfall Resources Ltd., who paid $6,389/hectare for each of three parcels located adjacent to the Covington West Upper Shaunavon (Oil) Pool, 11 kilometres south of the town of Gull Lake. Kindersley-Kerrobert area The top purchaser of acreage in this area was Ranger Land Services Ltd., who spent $837,688 to acquire ﬁve lease parcels. The top price paid for a single lease was $405,622, paid by Cavalier Land Ltd. for a 259 hectare parcel situated adjacent to the Salvador Mannville Sands (Gas) Pool, two kilometres south of Denzil. This is the highest dollar per hectare in this area at $1,566/ hectare.

Invicta completes Viking light oil program Invicta Energy Corp. reports that it has successfully completed its eight-well Viking light oil horizontal drilling program in the Kindersley area of Saskatchewan during the past June and July. All eight wells have now been completed, with up to 12 multistage fracs per well, and placed on production.

Each of the eight wells is being equipped with pumping units and pipelines are being surveyed for construction to conserve the solution gas through third-party facilities. Invicta has also constructed a treating facility at a central location in order to treat its own oil. This facility will enable the company to reduce overall op-

erating expenses and increase netbacks. An additional eight to 10 drilling locations will be prepared for drilling later this year. With this recent round of drilling, Invicta said it has delineated the Viking reservoir over a larger area and is conﬁdent of its Kindersley area drilling inventory of over 80 locations.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

A21

Lakeland targets $30M for HOOT lab Lloydminster – Fundraising for a new $30 million power engineering and oil and gas training facility at the Lloydminster campus of Lakeland College is off to a great start thanks to $4.9 million in capital funding from the Alberta government. Plans call for a twophased development project with the first phase estimated to cost approximately $15 million. With funding in place, the design and prep work is under way with construction to start next summer. The capital contribution from Alberta was announced by Lakeland College president Glenn Charlesworth to graduates of the heavy oil operations technician (HOOT) program at the Lloydminster campus in July. “This funding commitment from the Alberta government is very important. I believe it will help us leverage additional public and private financial support for this project,” said Charlesworth. “We appreciate the investment the Alberta government has made in oil and gas training at Lakeland. “We still have a lot of doors to knock on to secure all of the funding we need for this project, but we’re optimistic we will soon have the money in place to start

construction.” A new power engineering lab and expanded facility will enable Lakeland to increase seat numbers in its oversubscribed HOOT program. It will also allow the college to transition the program from a oneyear certificate program to a two-year program to enable students to graduate with a diploma and a third-class power engineering certificate. The facility will also enable Lakeland to offer more customized oil and gas programming including petroleum management training and short-term, just-in-time courses to address specific industry needs. “Alberta’s future depends on our skilled workforce and meeting the needs of industry,” said Greg Weadick, minister of Alberta Advance Education and Technology. “This program will allow students from smaller centres to be a part of Alberta’s worldrenowned oil and gas in-

dustry.” In Phase 1 of the project, Lakeland will expand the northeast wing of the campus to incorporate a power engineering lab with a water testing room and an operations control room plus a heavy oil operations lab that has a maintenance section, a simulation lab and a gas process lab. Classrooms, lecture theatres, a computer lab, a student lounge and faculty offices will be added during the second phase of the project. “This project is about addressing needs and creating opportunities,” said Charlesworth. Lakeland is located in a petroleum rich region and we must offer programming that prepares people not only from this region but beyond to keep the oil and gas industry moving ahead,” Lakeland currently offers numerous programs and courses relevant to the oil and gas industry including HOOT, gas process operator,

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A22

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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A23

Lakeland fetes Keyera energy partner Lloydminster – Homework paid oﬀ for Owen Baker, chief inspector and manager of integrity and capability development for Calgary-based Keyera Corp., one of the largest natural gas midstream businesses in Canada. Baker was presented with an honorary Bachelor of Applied Business degree during graduation ceremonies at the Lakeland College Lloydminster campus in June. The degree was presented by Lakeland president and CEO, Glen Charlesworth in recognition of Baker’s work developing and implementing Keyera’s Competency Management Development System (CMDS). CMDS is a training and education program designed for people working in either oil and gas ﬁeld collection or plant processing capacities. “Owen has worked diligently to promote innovative post-secondary

Lakeland College president Glenn Charlesworth, left presented an honorary degree to Owen Baker from Keyera Energy in Calgary for his work in creating a Competency Management Development System. CMDS trains and educates people working in either oil and gas Àeld collection or plant processing capacities. The presentation took place during the Lloydminster campus graduation ceremonies earlier this summer. Photo submitted

learning opportunities that help the oil and gas sector, said Charlesworth. “His commitment to education and providing ﬂexible learning opportunities is why our collaboration with Keyera has been so successful. He’s very deserving of this honorary degree.”

Keyera’s business consists of natural gas gathering and processing as well as the processing, transportation, storage and marketing of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and crude oil midstream activities. Participation in CMDS ensures oil and gas employees have the

necessary skills and knowledge to operate safely and eﬀectively. It also provides them with the supervisory expertise to ensure that they can move forward in their chosen careers. Employees' current skills are assessed by a third party validator and then, primarily through

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1,800 petroleum industry certificates to people who have successfully completed training in one of 13 areas, including gas distribution, safety leader, oil and gas instrumentation technician, and pipeline construction supervisor. Lakeland and Keyera’s latest project is the development and delivery of a petroleum management diploma. The first 18 graduates of the diploma program were also recognized at the graduation ceremony. These students completed 10 courses that were delivered through face-to-face classes plus online assignments. Diploma courses include leadership, management, employment relations, petroleum safety management, regulatory compliance, emergency response planning, process optimization – field and plant, environmental stewardship, plant turnaround and financial accounting.

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A24

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

G Force burns rubber at dyno event Lloydminster – You can burn rubber with a semi. That’s the word from Greg Schwenk, owner of G Force Diesel Service in Lloydminster, during his company’s dyno competition on Aug. 8 to determine which truck produces the most horsepower in stock and modiﬁed divisions. A total of 10 drivers from all over Western Canada paid the $150 entry fee for a trip on the G Force truck chassis dynamometer with horsepower bragging rights on the line and prizes for the top three winners in both divisions. “We’ll do a competition running semis on our chassis dyno to see what kind of horsepower they are putting out,” explained Schwenk minutes before the competition began. “It will give them an idea of the horsepower output of that truck.” G Force also uses the dyno to break in new engines and complete driveline diagnostics as part of their one stop parts, service and maintenance operation for heavy duty trucks and trailers.

G Force parts manager Gary Shiach displays the dyno competition T-shirt to mark the company’s stock and modiÀed divisional dyno horsepower competition.

“There’s a stock division for the semis, the ones that are not modified at all, and a modified division with some guys pushing it up to 1,250 hp or so. We’ll see who shows up today,” said Schwenk. “Even stock trucks from the dealerships can come over so they can tell their customers what their stock truck is going to put out.” The event doubled as an opportunity for G Force to promote their status as the Western Canada distributor of performance diesel products from Performance Diesel Inc. Sales reps were on hand from the U.S. - based company to support the competition and explain the performance and fuel economy features and benefits of PDI aftermarket products. “G Force is one of our big distributors up here in Canada,” said Shaun Barney, PDI sales manager from Saint George, Utah. “They do a lot of business back and forth with us. They have a dyno competition today, and we came up to support it.” The PDI product website lists everything from high performance ECM (electronic computer module) tuning, manifolds, turbos and cams to radiators, mufflers and clutches. “These parts increase the power of the truck and increase the economy, and save truck drivers some fuel money, but also give them the performance they are looking for,” said Barney. “A lot of guys around here drive off-road, so they look for more fuel economy and more power and saving some downtime.” ɸ Page A25

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

A25

Winner puts out 863 hp

Shop foreman Syd Cox, right, checks the horsepower reading on a PRON2 truck entered in a dyno competition on G-Forceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s truck chassis dyno. PRO-N2 took top spot in the modiĂ&#x20AC;ed division at 863 hp.

Éş Page A24 Some of the PDI products available for installation at G-Force include programmed ECMs, high-ďŹ&#x201A;ow exhaust manifolds, larger turbos, highďŹ&#x201A;ow fuel injectors, FASS fuel systems, vibration dampers and Lipe clutches. Part of the lure of the dyno competition was the opportunity for discount rates on PDI product installations and programs. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got trucks coming from all over Western Canada â&#x20AC;&#x201C; guys coming in from all over the place whether itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a stock truck or a modiďŹ ed semi, coming in to see the products we sell and some of the technology we have, and also take in the PDI discounts on the dyno runs,â&#x20AC;? said Schwenk. Darryl Layden, owner of PRO-N2 Ltd., an oilďŹ eld hauler from Innisfail,

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Alberta, took the top honours in the modiďŹ ed division with his 2003 Peterbilt that topped out at 863 hp loaded with PDI products. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got the ECM, a diďŹ&#x20AC;erent turbo and a manifold,â&#x20AC;? said Layden after the dyno test. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got propane injection on it as well.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of our trucks use the modiďŹ ed products from PDI. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got 32 trucks. We started with this one. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably eight of them that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done so far.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;We haul liquid nitrogen and liquid CO2, and we also haul propane and anhydrous ammonia.â&#x20AC;? PRO-N2 is a PDI sub dealer for G Force and Layden said the event was an opportunity â&#x20AC;&#x153;to come up and meet the guys and check out a couple of trucks that have the products on.â&#x20AC;? The drive up was worth it as Layden won a 2,400 ft. lb. Lipe clutch with clutch product rep owner Joe Pacquette who on hand for most the day. Pacquette says the Lipe clutch has the highest torque rating (2,400 ft. lb) and biggest plate load (4,400 lb.) of any heavy duty truck clutch on the market. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to adjust. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to turn the motor over,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can adjust it no matter where the motor stops at. One man can do it. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need someone else to hold the clutch pedal down for you. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very, very good clutch. The springs donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t push at an angle; they push straight so you get the even release and engagement on it. It doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t jump on you. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very smooth.â&#x20AC;? Second place in the modiďŹ ed division went to Rob Schultz whose truck recorded 736 hp on the dyno printout. Shultz won a surround sound system donated by Fort Garry Industries. Summit Trucking ďŹ nished third with 629 hp and took home a chrome light bar donated by Trux Accessories. Redhead Equipment in Lloydminster took top spot in the stock division with a Mack Titon that powered up to 517 hp. That reading earned them a free ECM upgrade from PDI, but Redhead opted for a cash donation to a young cancer patient from Marwayne to help with her medical costs. Second place went to Black Sheep Trucking at 441 hp and received a toolbox prize donated by Midway Distributors. Triple 7 Transport took home the third place position at 421 hp and earned a portable barbecue donated by Accurate Machining. There were also a slew of door prizes, giveaways and competition T-shirts.

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A26

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Husky’s new ofÀce building in Lloydminster is starting to resemble the artistic concept prior to the start of construction in 2010. The building is due for completion by spring of 2012. Photo by Geoff Lee

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KEY FEATURES • Industrial touch screen PC with a simple, easy to use interface • Real time monitoring of pressure, temperature, ﬂow and tank levels • Automatic safety shutdown control on pressure and/or temperature alarms • PDF reports of all jobs saved on the hard drive and easily transferred to a USB stick to be passed on to the client at the site • Remote support anywhere world wide with an internet connection • Optional GPS system for easy navigation on road or in the patch • Optional Field Invoicing Module to complete work tickets in the ﬁeld

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System Features MONTORING EVERYTHING ON ONE SCREEN • Recording of up to twelve sensors simultaneously (i.e. pressure, temperature, ﬂow, tanks levels, etc.) • Real time monitoring with single graph and two digital sensor displays or up to six digital sensor displays with out a graph. • Change any data display box to read any of the sensors in multiple units of measure. COMPANY DATABASE • For each job, choose the company by name, location, contacts and/or LSD numbers. PDF JOB REPORTS • After completing a job, a job report can be created in PDF format and stored on the system hard drive for future reference. JOB REPORT TO USE MEMORY STICK • The job report can also be copied to any USB memory stick with the touch of a button. • Your Clients can take a copy of their job report before the truck leaves the site. • Email direct to customer and/or internal staff.

Main Office #9, 101A 26230 TWP RD 531A Acheson, Alberta Canada T7X 5A4 855.962.2825 toll free info@mobiledatatech.ca www.mobiledatatech.ca

Edmonton, Alta. – Projected revenue gains from higher oil prices and nearrecord land sales have helped to lower Alberta's expected 2011-12 deficit to $1.3 billion, a decrease of 60 per cent from budget. Alberta has generated more than $2.2 billion in revenue from the sale of petroleum and natural gas rights this year (up to Aug. 10) including a record $841 million from the June sale. “With a strengthening economy, more Albertans working and a smaller deficit forecast, the province is in good shape,” said Premier Ed Stelmach in a news release. “We put the Way Forward plan into action in 2009, and this plan has served Albertans well through the recession and recovery. “We continue to manage our spending, have made carefully considered investments in infrastructure and key priority programs, and will use our savings in the Sustainability Fund to cover the deficit until we return to balanced budgets.” Revenue is projected to be $2.7 billion higher than forecast at budget due to strong land lease sales and higher oil prices. Investment income is also forecast to be higher. Expense is forecast to increase $650 million from budget, with the majority ($456 million) related to disaster and emergency funding, including for forest fire-fighting and assistance to Slave Lake. Operating spending is up slightly by $62 million, with nearly half the increase going towards increased lump sum payments for employees of community-based agencies that provide care on behalf of government for children and people with disabilities. The deficit will be covered by Alberta’s savings account, the Sustainability Fund. The government built up this account with money from its past savings to help fund priority public programs and services, maintain significant capital spending and keep taxes low during difficult economic times. The Sustainability Fund is forecast to end the year with $9.7 billion in assets, an increase of $4.4 billion from the budget estimate. The increase is due to the lower deficit, cash transferred to the account from last fiscal year's results and positive changes in capital or other cash adjustments.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

BlackPearl going thermal at Onion Lake Calgary, Alta. – The second quarter results of Calgary-based BlackPearl Resources Inc. came loaded with current news about plans for its core heavy oil prospects at Onion Lake, Saskatchewan and its Mooney and Blackrod projects in Alberta. The company ﬁled an application in July with regulatory authorities for a 10,000 bpd steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) project at Onion Lake as it makes the switch from conventional heavy oil production to thermal development. “To assist in the transition from conventional to SAGD development, we will have to ‘pre-spend’ some capital by drilling the horizontal wells that will be used in the SAGD operations,” said John Festival, president and CEO. “This will ensure that we are not drilling in areas that have been partially depleted or disturbed by conventional drilling. “We expect to drill up to 20 horizontal wells by the end of 2012. These wells will not be put on production until we begin SAGD development.” Festival says BlackPearl will “slow down our planned conventional drilling at Onion Lake” until some of the new horizontal wells are drilled. BlackPearl is also is evaluating the potential of building its own oil processing battery and pipeline tie-in at Onion Lake to reduce reliance on third party processors. “In addition, we believe it is advantageous to own the infrastructure in our core areas to ensure we retain more control over the entire operation,” said Festival. “A decision on this proposal will be made later this year when the feasibility study is completed and we have cost estimates ﬁnalized.” BlackPearl drilled 63 wells at Onion Lake in the second quarter with most of the wells being put on production this summer following wet spring

“

“We are in the warm-up phase of the pilot whereby steam is injected into both the injector and producer horizontal wells,” said Festival. “Initial observations indicate that the reservoir is accepting steam as anticipated, and we are achieving uniform heat distribution from the heel to the toe of the horizontal wells, both very good indicators for future production and operating results from the SAGD well pair. - John Festival, president and CEO of BlackPearl “Within the next month we will install a downhole pump and commence oil production.” Spring forest fires in the Slave Lake area weather. Additional drilling at Onion Lake is planned for slowed the construction at Mooney of new ASP (alkali, surfactant, polymer) facilities for conventhe remainder of 2011. BlackPearl is currently building a new oil treat- tional heavy oil production during the second ing and water disposal facility at one of its non-core quarter. No facilities were damaged by the fires; but properties at Druid in southwest Saskatchewan. The facility at Druid will allow the company to construction and all production activities were re-activate several wells in the area which were previ- halted for about three weeks. The facilities have since been completed, and ously shut-in due to lack of water disposal facilities. The company expects to produce 200 to 400 bpd chemical and water injection commenced in early July. when the facilities are complete. “We expect production response from the BlackPearl plans to drill an additional five to 10 horizontal wells at its John Lake field in central Al- flood will take six to 12 months,” said Festival. “Production from Phase 1 of the ASP flood is berta if production from two new two horizontal expected to be in the range of 3,000 to 4,000 barwells drilled in the second quarter is good. Those rels of oil per day. wells will be put on production this summer. “During the second half of 2011, we will be The company achieved initial production rates expanding the existing heavy oil battery to process in excess of 100 bpd from its first horizontal well at John Lake in 2010 after acquiring the property the incremental oil and water production. “The battery expansion is designed to handle from another operator who drilled vertical wells all of the production of Phase 1and 2S of the ASP with modest success. BlackPearl completed the construction of flood. This will allow us additional flexibility in SAGD pilot facilities at its Blackrod thermal timing the expansion of the ASP flood.” BlackPearl also plans to drill up to 10 new project in Alberta in the second quarter. horizontal wells on its expansion land at Mooney The company expects to file an application for a 40,000 bpd commercial project with regulatory this fall. These wells will be produced conventionally at first then included in an ASP flood. authorities in the first half of 2012.

Within the next month we will install a downhole pump and commence oil production.

”

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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Wet and rainy weather conditions slow down Emerge drillings Calgary, Alta. – Emerge Oil & Gas Inc. is one of many junior oil and gas companies in Western Canada to report their second quarter drilling expectations dampened by a wet spring – with rain continuing to influence summer drilling operations. The oil-weighted company is actively producing heavy oil in the Lloydminster area in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and Viking light oil in the Battlebend area of east-central Alberta – weather permitting. The company reports production volumes this summer have been affected by wet weather conditions in certain fields, where higher than normal rain has prevented them from servicing existing wells and from bringing recently drilled wells onto production. “Completion, equipping and tie-in activities have been delayed in recent weeks on both our heavy and light oil drilling programs,” said Thomas J. Greschner, president and CEO, in a news release on Aug. 15. “Current oil sales are averaging between 5,400 and 5,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day, with eight new drills to bring on production as soon as drier conditions permit. “We anticipate these wells will be on production within the month of September, at which time Emerge plans on releasing revised production guidance for 2011 incorporating the Viking well rates.” The Calgary-based company reported they were awaiting drier lease conditions to complete and produce two cased heavy oil wells drilled in the Lloydminster Alberta area since July. Drier weather was also needed to complete one heavy oil well drilled earlier this summer in the Dulwich area, east of the company’s core Silverdale, Saskatchewan property. Emerge said it was awaiting drier conditions to continue drilling in the Lloydminster area. Emerge plans to drill approximately 15 to 20 heavy oil wells in the Primate, Freemont and Silverdale/Furness areas of Saskatchewan for the remainder of 2011. Primate has become a focus of new development for Emerge. Following a discovery well of 135 barrels of oil equivalent a day at Primate in the first quarter of 2011 and a successful second quarter step-out oil pool de-

lineation phase, the area now has five wells producing approximately 450 boepd oil. Emerge is currently acquiring additional mineral lands and has shot 52 kilometres of 2D seismic to further delineate the play. The company also expected drilling to get underway in mid-August on its fifth and final horizontal well in the Viking light oil play in the Kirkpatrick Lake area of central Alberta as part of a farm in agreement with a development partner. Drilling operations have gone smoothly with completion and fracturing operations occurring in mid-August. Each well was drilled with a horizontal section of 900 to 1,100 meters in length with liners. The horizontal sections will undergo a planned multi-stage warm water frac stimulation consisting of 18 to 20 stages, at 15 tonnes per stage. Emerge planned to commence tie-in activities in late August with initial rates expected to be announced once production rates have been established. The company has access to 34 sections of high working interest and operated prospective Viking land through a combination of owned and farm-in acreage. Production during the second quarter was affected by downtime related to spring breakup conditions, as certain well sites were inaccessible due to wet leases. Due to wet weather the company was unable to truck sales oil out of some wells and was unable to perform service work on certain wells that required workovers. Most of these wells were serviced and re-started in July with production rates returning to their pre-downtime levels by mid-August. Emerge didn’t commence its 2011 drilling program until late May 2011 due to wet weather, but they drilled seven (6.7 net) wells during the quarter with 100 per cent success. Two of these 100 per cent net wells were completed and on production by the end of the quarter with the remaining wells awaiting completion services. Emerge also reduced its second quarter operating costs to $20.10 per boe from $24.05 boe in the first quarter of 2011 with a goal to cut operating costs to $18 to $20 per boe by the end of 2011.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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Logan opens new distribution facility Edmonton, Alta. – Logan Oil Tools, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Logan International Inc., is better able to meet the demand for its downhole products in Western Canada with the opening of its newest sales and warehouse facility in Edmonton. The new facility gives the company an additional 7,800 sq.-ft. of space for sales and

distribution of their retrieving tools, stroking tools, surface tools, remedial tools and related products with drilling on the rise following a wet spring. The new complex oﬃcially opened on Aug. 1 and will work in conjunction with Logan’s existing sales and distribution location in Calgary. “Logan Oil Tools

continually invests in its facilities, technology, and people. We are very excited to expand both our investment and our local involvement in the Edmonton area,” said David S. Jones, senior vice-president and chief operating oﬃcer for downhole tools in a news release. The construction of the Edmonton complex follows purchase by Lo-

gan International last May of Source Energy Tool Services Inc., a developer of industry leading downhole equipment in Lloydminster. Source invented the proprietary MultiStim Fracture Isolation system widely used by oil and gas producers for the fracturing of horizontal wells. The purchase allows Logan to market the

downhole technology in the U.S. and internationally through its existing network and business relationships. Logan Oil Tools, based in Houston, Texas is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of downhole ﬁshing and intervention tools for the oil and gas industry. In addition to 11 sales oﬃces/stores locat-

ed throughout the U.S., Logan Oil Tools has international distribution facilities in Aberdeen, Scotland; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Singapore — to maximize delivery needs. Logan International is based in Houston, with Canadian headquarters in Calgary and more than 470 employees worldwide.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Comm Words generates compliance forms Bonnyville, Alta. – Comm Words Ink, a communications, printing and design company in Bonnyville, is helping oil and gas companies in Alberta to be compliant with regulations by designing and printing industry forms. The company is also beginning to venture into safety training and safety audit documentation. The main focus of Comm Words is the designing and printing of everything from multi-part carbonless forms for regulatory safety, ﬂuid hauling, and time reports to basic business needs like letterhead and business cards. Comm Words also generates marketing and signage products such as banners, postcards and brochures. “Primarily what we work with is all of the safety

forms, ﬂuid haul tickets, daily hazard assessment tickets – all of those multi-part carbonless forms that are needed every day in the patch,” said owner Dave Hutton. “We print hard copies and we provide customers with the books and do all of the binding, and deliver them right to the oﬃce.” Hutton manned a booth at the Bonnyville & District Oil and Show Gas in June where he held court with clients and reporters asking the basic who, what, why, when and how questions about his business. His response to a question about the demand for his company’s services and products was “pretty strong” around Bonnyville. ɸ Page A33

Dave Hutton, owner of Comm Words Ink, set up a booth at the Bonnyville Oil Show in June to promote their oilÀeld forms printing and safety training and documentation services. Photo by Geoff Lee

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Order your 8’ x 14’ access mats and/ or 8’ x 40’ rig mats today to be sure you can start your fall/winter drilling season on time! We are taking orders for delivery that could begin in as little as a couple weeks. Please call to discuss prices and availability. Call soon as product is going fast!!

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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Company assists with COR documentation ad MSDS ɺ Page A32 “There are so many independent service companies that are contracted for fluid haul and vac service – for a whole number of different elements in the industry that all require those forms,” he said. “It’s all part of being compliant and meeting with the parameters that companies are contracted to require.” Asked about his market area, Hutton said, “Our market reach is primarily this Lakeland region (Bonnyille/Cold Lake area) although we have expanded as far down as Red Deer, and I am producing forms for the Grande Prairie area.” Hutton recently partnered with his brother to branch out into helping companies meet their safety training and audit requirements for COR (certification of recognition) safety status. “We are doing audits and all of that. It’s sort of a one stop shop. It goes hand in hand with printing,” he said. “So if we to go in and identify their needs vis-à-vis the forms, we can also produce them in hard copy and do them digitally as well. “The oilpatch is busy and people hate paperwork. Our goal is to help them get it organized, keep it in a readily accessible place, so they can complete and have their full package together.” Comm Words works with oil and gas companies to create their required COR documentation and forms such as an MSDS (material safety data sheet) required for any products with chemicals in them. “We will go in and inventory and show them the things they need to do,” said Hutton. “We can develop a program where they can go online and follow through step-by-step the things they need to do under a particular facet. “They can click through the different tabs. It’s got a drop down menu, and they can go through it and click it off. It actually ‘green lights’ them to the next stage.” Hutton says his competitive business niche is his 30 years in the printing business and five years as the publisher of the Bonnyville Nouvelle newspaper. “I understand the oilpatch. I have many friends in there who work in the business,” he said.

“I am probably one of the only ones that actually delivers. I save them time and that’s part of the whole deal. I become part of that of that company’s team as it were. I go and help them identify a problem, solve it, and design a system that works for them. “We do the same thing with our safety side. There are lots of advantages I bring to a company. “I have a safety training background. I am a registered train the trainer and WHMIS and TDG (transportation of dangerous goods) and so on. “We have lots of balls in the air so we will bring on people who are fully certiﬁed who will sit down and teach them.”

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Bigger. Faster. Stronger. With 21 locations in Western Canada, nobody understands your growing business needs better than Brandt. We’ve been providing top quality equipment and service to Western Canada for over 75 years - like the new G-series models from John Deere. The 250G LC, 290G LC and 350G LC are equipped with more arm force, dig force, and lift capacity. They’re faster, stronger, and deliver more productivity – keeping you on schedule and ahead of the weather. At Brandt, our strength begins with our support, giving our customers access to our 24/7 Product Support Centre staffed with John Deere certiﬁed parts people. And with Brandt’s proven commitment to uncompromising after-sales support, we’ll always be there when you need us. Powerful Value. Delivered.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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Adam and Lori Thor were delighted to put a Áoat in the Kitscoty centennial parade on Aug. 20 to let everyone know they have taken over Thor OilÀeld Engine Service from Adam’s dad and are branching out into manufacturing.

Kitscoty couple parades NOT THESE new oil KIND OF business PIPES Kitscoty, Alta. – Adam and Lori Thor are making hay while the sun shines. The entrepreneurial couple took over Thor Oilfield Engine Service Ltd. in April. They have a new shop under construction to manufacture safety guards for the Arrow oilfield engines they repair and service along with other makes at their farm west of Kitscoty. Thor Oilfield specializes in the service and repair of single cylinder engines used on pumpjacks and screw pumps including Arrow, Lister, Kubota, Chevy and Ford engines on location or at the company shop. “We service all makes of oilfield engines and hydraulics – you name it, we do it. If it’s broke, we’ll fix it,” said Adam who also has a fleet of mobile service trucks. “There are a lot of screw pumps in this area and a lot of pumpjacks going too. Our big business is the Kitscoty and Lloydminster area. We go as far north as Red Earth and south to Brooks. “We’ve sent engines all over Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan.” The Thors entered a company float in Kitsoty’s centennial parade on Aug. 20 to let everyone know they have taken over the business that Adam’s dad started in 1991, and are going in a new direction. “It was Dad and myself and now Dad has retired, so it’s me and my wife, but I am looking to expand,” said Adam who described his role as chief cook and bottle washer. “Lori takes care of all of the books and she’s been known to pull the wrenches too,” he added. “We have a shop at our farm just west of Kitscoty and we are just in the process of putting up another one. “We’ve gone into some manufacturing as well as repair. We also do some parts sales so we are always looking at new and exciting adventures. “We’ve been expanding since day one. We’ve built our own flywheel guards. We make guards for the single cylinder motors. It’s a safety thing. “We also make back guards as well that cover the back side. It’s a new safety thing that companies want. We have done well with them,” he said. Their guards specifically for Arrow engines are distributed by CE Franklin in Edmonton. “I’ve sent guards to Sarnia Ontario and to B.C. and northern Alberta and all over the place,” said Adam. “Basically anything safety in the oilfield – that's a big business right now. If you can find a way to do something safer and keep guys safe out there then everyone’s for it.”

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Global Steel maintains key relationships with several major domestic steel mills. Strategic alliances with each mill guarantee reliable and secure access to a full range of high-quality ERW OCTG, Seamless OCTG and Line Pipe products. We are committed to providing oil and gas producers with exceptional service, high-quality oil Àeld tubular goods and personalized logistical support.

One call to Global Steel provides customers with competitively priced products and efÀcient , safe dispatch to the job site. Global Steel currently maintains 18 inventory stock points strategically located across Canada. Each stock point is supported by veteran trucking companies specializing in oil Àeld transportation and providing 24 hours service. An unwavering focus on operating and service excellence is what separates Global Steel from everyone else. It is a commitment that shows in our products and services. At Global Steel we are focused on your business.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Kerrobert Toe to Heel Air Injection (THAI) project continues Calgary, Alta.– Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. continues to advance and ﬁeld test its THAI or toe to heal air injection heavy oil project and expansion at Kerrobert, Saskatchewan. Petrobank owns 15 sections of petroleum and natural gas rights in the Kerrobert channel trend. The Calgary based oil and natural gas exploration and production company is ﬁeld-demonstrating its patented

THAI heavy oil recovery process at Kerrobert and Conklin in northern Alberta. A THAI demonstration project is also slated to begin at Dawson in northern Alberta in the fourth quarter of 2011. THAI is an evolutionary in-situ combustion technology for the recovery of bitumen and heavy oil that integrates existing proven technologies. The company’s second quarter results re-

leased on Aug. 15 note that that eight of the 10 Kerrobert expansion well-pairs have completed the pre-ignition heating cycle (PIHC) and are on air injection and in the initial production phase. The ﬁrst expansion well-pair was placed on air injection and production in the middle of May, with an additional four well-pairs placed on air injection by the end of the second quarter. The PIHC for the remaining ﬁve well-pairs

began at the end of the second quarter. As of Aug. 15 three of those well-pairs were on air injection, with the remainder expected to be on air injection by September. “Our operating procedures continue to evolve, said Chris J. Bloomer senior vice president and CEO, Heavy Oil. “We have been able to reduce the duration of the PIHC from a planned eight weeks to approximately four weeks. “Following the PIHC, the vertical wells commence air injection at low rates and the horizontal production wells are brought on production with a progressive cavity pump. The initial clean-up ﬂuids consist of water, including condensed water from the PIHC steam injection, and some native oil. “As these ﬂuids are produced, the combustion gas volume increases, the temperature in the horizontal well begins to rise and the well begins to produce an oil and water emulsion at low rates.

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“Well bore temperatures will increase and combustion gas, along with some native oil and occasional upgraded THAI oil, will be produced. “As we measure the combustion gas communication and rising well bore temperatures, we will increase the air injection in stages to facilitate the combustion zone development,” Bloomer said. Production at Kerrobert was limited to 40 bpd in the second quarter due to down time from pump changes, decommissioning of the original Kerrobert facilities, and delayed tie-in to a new central processing facility. Petrobank expects to begin drilling in the fourth quarter of 2011 at its demonstration project of THAI at Dawson in northwest Alberta with regulatory approval in hand. This project will consist of two THAI well-pairs plus associated surface facilities. “We expect that one well-pair will be drilled during 2011 and the second will be drilled in 2012,” said Bloomer. “In the second quarter of 2011, we drilled two stratigraphic evaluation wells. We are cur-

rently decommissioning the surface facilities from our ﬁrst two wells at the Kerrobert project and will begin moving the facilities to our Dawson project in the third quarter of 2011. “Civil work has begun and it is expected that drilling will commence in mid-September,” he said. Drilling activities for the remainder of 2011 at Dawson will include completing an observation well, an air injector, drilling a water disposal well, an observation well and one horizontal production well. PIHC is planned to start in the fourth quarter of 2011, and air injection is expected to commence before yearend. An environmental assessment and regulatory application for the Dawson 10,000 bpd project are expected to be submitted in the fourth quarter. “With our Kerrobert and Dawson projects both moving forward, we are now evaluating options for the Conklin demonstration project to become predominantly a ﬁeld scale testing site for future technology enhancements to the THAI process,” said Bloomer.

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Safety Buzz opens training hive in Lloyd

Safety Buzz owner Amy Zuk points to her company logo of a “cute bee” as she calls it, wearing a hard hat at the company’s 4,000 sq.-ft. headquarters in Bonnyville. The logo will be installed at the new location in downtown Lloydminster that opens on Sept. 6. Safety Buzz also has a training outlet in Medicine Hat. Photo submitted

Bonnyville, Alta. – Safety Buzz Ltd., a Bonnyville-based safety services training company is opening its newest hive of operations in downtown Lloydminster with classes starting on Sept. 6. Business owner, Amy Zuk, who also runs a safety training outlet in Medicine Hat, chose Lloydminster for her latest expansion due to its close proximity to Bonnyville and an established client base in the border city area. “It seems that there is demand is in the area for some extra training professionals,” said Zuk. “One of our previous employees moved to Lloyd, so we felt it would fit really well to have her onboard again.” That employee is Kathryn Brown who will share the management role with Zuk and instruct a full menu of oilfield safety courses in a classroom setting at the new location on 50th Street just east of the TD Bank. Safety Buzz offers new workers and established oilfield clients with classroom instruction in everything from H2S, first aid and WHMIS to confined space and transportation of dangerous goods. Instructors can also travel to remote or field locations for training

courses to teach such things as defensive driving and to conduct respiratory ﬁt testing. Zuk said her company’s mission is become the No. 1 training provider in Alberta and Saskatchewan through their empowering approach to safety and customer service. “We are a group of safety training professionals with the vision of creating the culture that safety lives with you 100 per cent of the time,” said Zuk. Her marketing plan is focused on a strategy “where we go out and meet clients’ staﬀ ” at

their workplace. “I think what some people definitely like too, is the fact many of our instructors are female instructors which puts a neat little twist on things. “The majority of us do have some type of oilfield experience. I have quite a bit. I worked as a field operator and in construction, so I have quite a few years of oilfield experience behind me,” Zuk said. Zuk established Safety Buzz in 2005 in Bonnyville and has seen the business grow in pace with the safety training needs of the booming oil and gas industry in Western Canada. Safety Buzz now has more than 4,000 sq. ft. for training and equipment at its Bonnyville headquarters. “The safety business

is driven by new regulations and the expansion of the oilfields,” said Zuk. “There are a lot more people being hired, so there’s a lot more training needed. “There is growth potential a little bit everywhere. North of Bonnyville is expanding like crazy – Saskatchewan is too. That’s part of the reason for our Lloyd satellite office. “Even around Medicine Hat – the Shaunavon area is really busy, and all over Alberta there’s a lot picking up.” Zuk is already thinking out loud about further expansion into Shaunavon. “We will see what happens,” she said. In the meantime, Zuk is planning a grand opening for the Lloydminster office sometime in mid-October or November.

Kathryn Brown will be the lead oilÀeld safety instructor at a new Safety Buzz Ltd. location in downtown Lloydminster opening on Sept. 6. Safety Buzz offers a full range of classroom safety instruction along with available remote or on location training and respiratory Àt testing. Photo submitted

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Kitscoty celebrates centennial in style

AK OilÀeld Services decked out this truck to keep pace with the party mood throughout the parade that included dozens of Áoats in the Kitscoty centennial parade.

Kitscoty resident Rick Hutchinson wore this “udderly” funny cow get-up to generate sales of a “cow pie drop” rafÁe during Kitscoty’s centennial celebrations.

Kirkland Jeffery, left, and Deryk Venance lower a “time capsule” into a hole during Kitscoty’s centennial celebrations. The plastic capsule made by Hobblestone in Lloydminster will be opened in 19 years when Alberta turns 125.

George Phillips teamed up with his fellow Shriners from the Lloydminster “Oil Patrol”to ride in the Kitscoty centennial parade.

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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B-Section September 2011

Tempco adds new top drive rig Story and photos by Geoff Lee Nisku, Alta. – The upside of a wet spring and summer according to Eric Lang, general manager of Tempco Drilling Company at its Nisku, Alberta rig manufacturing shop, is that farmers don’t have to water their crops. Lang’s dad works a family farm in the Kindersley area where rain has drenched fields and washed away some of Tempco’s drilling profits at its busiest summer oilfield in Saskatchewan. “We’ve had wet springs and summers before over there,” said Lang. “We weren’t as busy as we are now, but it cuts into our profits a little bit when you have to shut down every week waiting on weather and sending guys home and getting everyone back to work again.” Tempco’s two top drive units, Rigs 6 and 7, just got back to work drilling shallow horizontal wells near Kindersley on July 29, the day Lang provided a snapshot of his early summer drilling operations. “We’ve been down for a week for a rain down there. It’s been kind of hit and miss,” said Lang about the Kindersley area. “Whatever we get in Edmonton, we end up getting there the next day. It’s not too bad for that area. We’ve been able to keep moving, but it’s very soft, and rig moves are taking forever to plow things in through the mud.” Tempco is also drilling for Rallyemont Energy Inc. at Prince, north of the Battlefords with Rig 1, a single rig – weather permitting. Rig 1 will also drilled for All Star Petroleum on the Red Pheasant First Nation south of North Battleford this summer before returning to Prince to do more drilling in early August.

Lang is not authorized to disclose what type of oil wells they are drilling for clients, but he did say they started drilling for Rallyemont at Prince last year and moved up there again in July. “We’ve got some stuff going down Manitoba way – Melita,” he said. “We are planning on sending a rig down there in the next week or so – as long as it dries up down there. “We are also in the Lloydminster area on the Alberta and Saskatchewan sides, bouncing back and forth. Tempco’s Rig 3 and 4 are operating in that provincial border area drilling heavy oil vertical wells and some directional wells for various oil companies. Lang says the Kindersley area where he grew up is a drilling hotspot for Tempco and will remain that way for the foreseeable future. “Usually in the summer it’s pretty wide open down there, and then in the wintertime it’s all northern stuff – Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray,” he said. “Right now, the focus is Saskatchewan. It’s always been good for us over there. “There’s lot of shallow stuff that’s going on in Kindersley. It looks like it’s going to stay for a while,” Lang said. Rig 6, a top drive built last year, and Rig 7, the newest top drive delivered in June, are specifically built to drill the shallow 1,500 to 1,600 metre horizontal wells popular in the Kindersley oilfields. “The reason we are beefing them up is we can go to 2,500 metres. The top drive is just a flavour of the century I guess,” said Lang. ɸ Page B2

Eric Lang, general manager of Tempco Drilling in Nisku, took delivery of this new 1000 hp mud pump that will replace a 500 hp pump on one of the company’s top drive drilling rigs. The new pump can handle larger volumes of Áuid and higher pressures.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Top drive system proves to be much more ef¿cient ɺ Page B1 “It’s just so much more efficient to drill a horizontal well. The wells are a lot more high tech than just drilling a straight hole in the ground. You’ve got to keep your mud moving constantly and your drill string constantly to keep from getting stuck in the hole. “With the top drive, you can keep everything moving all the time – for just a half a minute at a time that you have to stop pumping to make a connection – and you are back going again. It’s been very well proven, the speed and everything of a top drive rig. “We are working on another top drive right now. We are starting to put pieces together and we hope to have it ready for spring of next year.” Rig 5 was parked on a lot next to the Nisku manufacturing site due to wet weather the day Pipeline News paid a visit, and Rig 2 was in the shop for a retrofit of some of its older equipment. “We are getting it ready to go for this fall, and for next winter up in the tarsands,” said Lang. “There’s lots of work going to happen up there. Everything’s contracted to go. As long as we can find people we’re going to keep them running. “Rig hands are in big demand. We are into mid-summer and we’re out of people where we should be seeing this in January. Right now it’s tough to find quality help and qualified guys with experience. Lang said having a diversified fleet of drilling rigs enables Tempco to work their rigs in Saskatchewan and Manitoba during the summer, and head up to northern Alberta in the wintertime. “What really ramps up there is coring and testing wells and SAGD type wells,” he said. “They have to find all the zones and know where they’re at. That’s why you do all these test wells and core wells to see what the zones are there. “We are a little more diversified with our rigs to drill heavy oil in Saskatchewan, and move up and do core wells and whatever type of wells they want to do up there. “Diversification in rigs is big time to keep our people. If we can’t keep them 200 to 300 days a year, then we won’t have them either. We don’t want to go back in every winter and retrain everybody.” Lang said core drilling in Alberta requires the use of a different kind of pipe but the same style of rig from a conventional single to a Range 3 top drive type rig. “You’ve got what they call a core package on a rig where they wireline retrieve the cores, so it’s actually quite quick to core using that type of equipment,” he explained. Asked to describe the potential for heavy oil in the Prince area, Lang says there is good potential for oil but advised one should ask Rallyemont about they want to reveal about their drilling finds. “There are a couple of other guys drilling in the area they have production. It’s a fairly new field. It’s looking good for the future,” he added. Rallyemont has acquired 79 sections of west central Saskatchewan heavy oil land in two main focus areas at Prince and Bagration with the main focus on Prince which is currently in the delineation stage. Bagration is the secondary focus area and is currently in the exploration phase. Rallyemont has more than 46 contiguous sections of land at Prince acquired from both Crown and freehold mineral rights owners.

Shop hand Cindy Brown threads a union together inside the rig manufacturing shop.

Welder Winston Yaremy laughs at a joke made by general manager Eric Lang at the completion of a small welding job on a rig component at the Nisku shop.

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Tempco in a ¿ght to retain rig crews By Geoff Lee Nisku, Alta. – If Eric Lang, general manager of Tempco Drilling Company, had to pick his poison between this year’s wet spring and summer or a dried up labour pool, rain would win out over not having enough rig hands to operate his seven drilling rigs. An eighth rig is currently under construction at the company’s rig manufacturing base in Nisku where want ads are popping up like daisies in a booming energy market. “You name it - from the swampers to the welders, CNC operators – everybody’s looking for somebody,” said Lang who is in the market for experience rig hands first and foremost. “We are into mid-summer and we’re out of people where we should be seeing this in January. Right now it’s tough to find quality help and qualified guys with experience.” Tempco is currently drilling in Saskatchewan at Prince and Red Pheasant First Nation at sites near the Battlefords, the Kindersley area and both sides of the border in Lloydminster with plans to drill in Melita, Manitoba later this summer. The company has also lined up lots of winter drilling contracts at Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray where Lang hopes he won’t face a labour crunch at a time when drilling is picking up in the oilsands. “It’s held a lot of people back from getting rigs to work,” he said about the manpower shortages facing the entire industry like it did in the last upturn. “Things are booming again in the oilpatch, so we hoping it stays for three or four more years longer. It can only boom to the amount of people we’ve got to run it. “There’s a few of our competitors I was talking to, and they’ve got rigs sitting because they have no guys to put on the rigs. “I am hearing it from the truckers also. They’ve got trucks in the yard. They can’t get enough trucks out there to move everything because they haven’t got drivers for them. Everybody is hurting on the qualified side.” Lang said the oil and gas drilling industry is also losing workers to service companies, coring companies and consulting companies. “Companies are running more consultants per rig than they used to years ago,” explained Lang. “You run into two consultants per rig on some of the more critical wells – the horizontal wells and some of the deeper stuff. So that’s really cutting into our qualified people that we need.” Asked what Tempco is doing to retain and attract new shop workers and rig crews, Lang said they are paying a little more than industry rates in wages and they have been since last fall. “That’s brought a few more guys in and kept our guys from looking over the fence – for now,” said Lang. “I am thinking there is going to be a good wage increase this fall. “We have had a lot of people leave the industry because of the last downturn. They got starved out and just don’t want to come back,” Lang said.

“Money makes everybody talk, and we are just trying to advertise more throughout Canada looking for people. “There is not much you can do than advertise and get signs up. Offering incentives is probably the only way to steal from the other competitors – offer them a better Tempco Drilling Company, is in an industry-wide bonus.” battle to retain and attract new rig crews. Lang said plans to import foreign workers from cold climate countries will help, but he says the industry’s biggest problem is communicating effectively with foreign workers. “Having people to come over here and work in the Canadian elements, it’s tough to get people to do that,” he added. On a related matter, Lang said he attended meetings in Calgary recently where the talk was about using rig matting for late summer and early fall drilling in the Fort McMurray area to boost utilization rates in an area where rigs can usually work just three months a year. “It's got to the point where some of the areas are drier up there, but it’s pretty hard to keep a rig around for three months out of the year, and have them available for the guys that are just doing oilsands stuff,” said Lang. “So you are having to pay these big dollars – so every winter we come along with a big boom – everybody and anything that can burn diesel is up there and trying to man it up in a month – and in three months it’s all over again. “If they can possibly get in and stretch it out to hopefully six months out of the year, then we could stabilize it a little more with equipment and men.” Lang said Tempco’s competitive niche is having a diversified drilling rig fleet to drill all types of wells including the coring and test wells and steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) wells taking place in the Alberta oilsands. Tempco is also drilling core wells for Rallyemont Energy Inc. at Prince about 20 kilometres north of North Battleford. “We work our rigs on the Saskatchewan and Manitoba side in the summer, and when winter comes these guys cut back down here in the Prairies, and then we head north,” said Lang. “We are a little more diversified with our rigs to drill heavy oil in Saskatchewan and move up and do core wells and whatever type of wells they want to do up there (northern Alberta). “Diversification in rigs is big time to keep our people. If we can’t keep them 200 to 300 days a year, then we won’t have them either. We don’t want to go back in every winter and retrain everybody,” Lang said.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

PDC now king of the bits

Rob Somerville, Aren Miller, Jeff Carlisle and Ryan Meshke handle bit sales for Baker Hughes in Estevan. Here Somerville displays a polycrystalline diamond cutter bit.

Story and photos by Brian Zinchuk Estevan – A newer style of drilling bit has rocked the world of drilling in recent years, if you consider 1976 new.That’s when Baker Hughes put its first polycrystalline diamond cutter (PDC) bits in the oil field. “The biggest revolution is the PDC,” said Rob Somerville, field sales representative with Baker Hughes drill-bit product line in Estevan, when asked about the biggest changes in recent years. “Over the last five years, PDCs have grown to 75 per cent of our market, and they’re still growing.” Asked why, he said, “Time. The rate of penetration (ROP), or how fast we can drill, is very important to drillers. It’s their primary concern.” It’s common for drill-bit companies to present customers with plaques to congratulate them on outstanding

performance. In recent years, Baker Hughes has given out a lot of awards. One listed an entire 362 metre build section drilled in 20.5 hours, achieving an ROP of 17.7 metres per hour. “Three years ago, this used to take two bits and three days. A tricone would have been six to seven metres per hour in the same section,” Somerville said. Compared to tricone drilling, the same rig can now drill almost two holes in the time it once took to drill one. Polycrystalline diamond cutters use manmade industrial diamonds. They vary in size, but are generally cylinders that are about the size of an AA battery cut to one-third its length. They sure don’t look like gemstones. Each PDC bit has a number of blades, usually from four to six, each with its leading edge encrusted with these dia-

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monds. Five blades are fairly common, according to Somerville. While some bits have seven blades, they are not common. The conﬁguration of each bit depends on its application and the formations it is drilling through. The bit is composed of several blades framed by small rounded PDCs. Between the blades are wide gaps, known as junk slots, which allow the rock to be cleared away from the end of the bit. There are a number of jets sunken into recesses in the frame, which allow drilling mud to ﬂow through and clean the bit as it drills. Some models have a second series of diamonds, known as backup cutters, positioned just behind the initial cutters. They may be on the shoulder, or right across the blade in some cases. Backup cutters improve on the cutting and can add to the durability of the bit, particularly useful in “high damage areas,” according to Somerville. One of those high damage areas is the Lodgepole formation. And as luck would have it, that’s the formation that directly overlays the much-sought after Bakken shale, making it a big hurdle for drillers, and drill bits. It’s the formation through which the build section must pass, where the well is steered 90 degrees from a vertical well to a horizontal, and therefore it’s the toughest to drill. ɸ Page B5

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Drilling time cut nearly in half ɺ Page B4 “This is, without a doubt, our toughest formation in the province,” Somerville said. It varies from 30 to 60 metres thick in places, and its chert can run from two to 45 per cent. (According to Geology.com, “Chert is a microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline sedimentary rock material composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Early people took advantage of how chert breaks and used it to fashion cutting tools and weapons. Dark varieties of chert are common and are often called ‘flint.’”) Typical Bakken well Asked what a typical Bakken well that is 1,800 metre true vertical depth would use for bits, Somerville explained it usually now takes four bits. Usually one bit is used for the surface hole. It is 349 mm or 13.7 inches across. This is usually a tricone bit, with either steel teeth or carbide inserts. Steel-toothed bits are usually retipped between holes. This bit will be used from the surface to about 200 metres. The next bit is the main hole bit, 222 mm, or 8-3/4 inches across. It generally drills from 200 to 1,500 metres in depth. This is most commonly a fiveblade PDC bit with a 16 mm cutter. “It gets you to the kickoff point,” he said. The next stage, the build section, is where the PDC has really made a difference. “You should be able to achieve your entire build section, 85 per cent of the time, with one bit,” he said. This build section bit will have 13 mm cutter. “You have more diamond volume on the bottom of your hole,” he said. “Diamond volume management is the engineering term. It allows for a smoother cut and more control for steerability. This is key for directional drilling. “Companies need to achieve a certain build rate.” The build rate is how quickly the hole is steered from vertical to horizontal. This is because horizontal wells can only draw oil from within 100 metres of the property line in Saskatchewan. If the build rate is not fast enough, the well “lands” further within the allowable area, and thus does not maximize the amount of horizontal wellbore available to draw oil from. Essentially, if the build rate is too slow, your useable horizontal well bore is shortened. Wells are typically drilled on the surface on the opposite side of the property line (usually the grid road) from where the horizontal well will be. This means that clients usually have 200 metre of hori-

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The black bumps on the ridges, or blades, of the business end of a sixblade PDC bit are manmade diamond cutters. The dark holes between the blades are jets for mud to Áow through.

zontal space to turn that wellbore from vertical to horizontal. Depending on the drilling position, there may be more space, but sometimes it is tighter, as little as 150 metres. Somerville explained that if the build rate is not fast enough, “You could end up below your pay zone, and you lose pay zone.” Some geometry also comes into play. You can only build 2.38 degrees per section of pipe. “More than that, and you may break it oﬀ,” he said. The fourth section of the well, the horizontal lateral, is done after the drillers pull out of the hole and run casing. “In the lateral, we’ll drill with smaller tools and a smaller bit,” he said. In this case, the size of the bit is now 159 mm, or 6-1/4 inches. It may also be 156 mm, or 6-1/8 inches.” In the case of a monobore well, in which a liner is installed right to the end of the horizontal section known as the “toe” and then cemented, they will drill with a 222 mm bit, or go with a 200 mm (7-7/8 inch) bit. There are several varieties of well types. In the Waskada, Manitoba, area, where the shallower Spearﬁsh formation is the goal, the driller may drill with a 200 mm bit the whole way after the surface casing. In these cases, it is possible to do an entire horizontal well, right to the toe, with just two bits— the surface bit, and the second bit. ɸ Page B6

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

More bite ɺ Page B5 While it’s common to see used tricone bits as lawn ornaments, you won’t find that with PDCs. “All our PDC bits are repaired; they are sent to Edmonton where they are serviced. All of our PDC bits in Canada are rented, not sold,” Somerville said. While PDCs are so important in the market, tricones have some advantages. They provide better rock sample quality for geologists, for instance, and have better steerability. In Midale and Frobisher formations, a lot of companies still use tricones. “It’ll roll over and crush the rock, whereas the PDC actually sheers it,” Somerville said. Asked about situations where more bits may be required, Somerville said, “Damage is the primary reason you change out a bit. The secondary reason is build rates. Bit design and the direction of the formation may affect build rates.” If insufficient build rates are being achieved, the drilling string may be tripped out and the angle of bend on the directional drilling mud motor or bit may be changed. Since the whole apparatus is already out of the hole, it’s common to simply put a new bit on rather than go back in with the old one, especially if there is visible damage to the bit. This is also the case if the tools break down, like the mud motor. “We recommend if there’s any damage, change it out,” Somerville said. Somerville pointed to continual changes and engineering in Baker Hughes drill bits, and vast sums of money spent on research and development. “There isn’t a month that goes by that there isn’t a change to one of our bits,” Somerville concluded.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Driller chooses Yorkton for home base By Brian Zinchuk Yorkton – About 80 miles from the nearest oil well, Yorkton is not the first place you’d look to find a drilling company that works primarily in southeast Saskatchewan. Yet tucked in a small strip mall behind the SuperStore and a block over from the Harley Davidson dealer, you will find Crusader Drilling Corp. That won’t be for long, however, as the relatively recent entrant into the drilling market is expanding to the point where they will soon need a new headquarters. However, it will still be in Yorkton. The question of why the heck a driller would choose Yorkton as a home base is one company founder, president and CEO Don Rae fields frequently. “It’s my home,” he said. “My wife Iris is originally from here. We were expecting a little guy in 1999, and picked Yorkton as home base. He would spend a lot of time flying to Calgary, from Regina, in those years. A long-time drilling consultant, he used to head up a substantial consulting business called DLM Oilfield Supervision Ltd., based in Carievale, which was Rae’s hometown. They had up to 25 consultants at their busiest point, operating in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and New York state. “We had that company for 19 years,” he said. “Two of my first guys I hired bought me out. They are now Impact Oilfield Management Team out of Carlyle. They’ve done very well.” The former partners are Greg Fischer and Steve Lobreau. “They were with me from day one,” he said. “I’ve been in the oilpatch my whole life. I started roughnecking in 1968 when I was 16. I spent two summers on service rigs, and was on drilling rigs ever since.” He also ran a junior oil company too, from 2003 to 2006. It was known as Waveform Energy. “We were one of the first players in the Bakken southeast of Colt Ross, Ryan Vandersteen and Cody Garry make a connection on CruEstevan,” Rae said. sader rig 2. Origins “My son, Larrie, a drilling consultant, kicked around the idea. He works with Impact in Carlyle. He came up with the name and logo. He was running my consulting company when I was running the oil company. “It’s always been in the back of my mind to form a drilling company,” Rae said. “I love the industry, Secondary Containment System Rentals the people, the challenges. For me, it’s not work, it’s a passion.” ɸ Page B8 Lee (306) 487-7411 John (306) 487-7756 Keith (403) 909-3885

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Two is one, one is none ɺ Page B7 He made up his mind to raise the money and build a drilling rig. At 59 years old, it seems that Rae knows nearly everyone in the southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch.

That helped in getting funding. “We started raising our money through a lot of local guys who are success stories in the southeast,” Rae said. A substantial number of his

investors in Crusader are successful oilmen in their own right, and have been proﬁled in Pipeline News over the years. “We raised money from two funds, SaskWorks and Apex.”

Both funds are managed by PFM Capital Inc. in Regina. Rae said, “They’ve been in on every rig so far.” The last tranche of funding was raised by Linkgate Capital from Calgary as a convertible debenture with a 12 per cent coupon attached. The company is now working on it’s third rig. Construction started on Rig 1 in June, 2008, when oil was around $120 a barrel. However, oil would soon plummet and hit the high $30s the following spring, right when the new rig was ready to roll. “Coming right out of the gate with it, there wasn’t another rig in sight. They were all laying ﬂat,” Rae recalled. How did they survive? “It was low overhead and tight budgets. We were ready to drill in April of 2009, and there was no place to go. We

Cody Gary is fast on his feet while on the drilling Áoor.

spudded our ﬁrst well in June for Tetonka Resources Inc.” An early project was for a potash company, Karnalyte, at Wynyard. They drilled three test wells. The job came as a result of connections with Rae’s old consulting company. Rae noted their ﬁnancial institution, Yorkton-based Cornerstone Credit Union, was very supportive. “Our bank was great.” Rig 1 was built by Do-All Metal Fabricating in Estevan. Rig 2 was

built by Ja-Co Welding and Consulting in Nisku. Ja-Co is doing most of the building for Rig 3, but the substructure and derrick were built on spec by the Rig Shop Ltd. in Nisku, while Do-All is doing the drawworks and skid. Rising costs and higher capacity equipment have impacted the ﬁnal price tag of each rig. Rig 1 cost $6.3 million, while Rig 2 came in at $7.5 million and Rig 3 is projected at $8.5 million. ɸ Page B9

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Third Crusader rig under construction ɺ Page B8 There are plans for two more rigs, with Rig 4 slated to start construction in the first quarter of 2012. It is expected to take six to eight months to build, due to how busy the industry is. “Rig 5 is probably right behind Rig 4,” Rae forecast. At that point, it’s time to look for an exit strategy for the investors. He noted day rates have improved in recent years. Rig 1 works for Tundra Oil and Gas, working on both sides of the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border over the last two years. Rig 2, commissioned in November 2010 has been working for PetroBakken. Rig features The rigs are all telescoping doubles. “They are designed to move and rigup faster than previous designs. That’s what everyone wants now,” Rae said. “I knew this Bakken play was a resource play, so you build specific for it,” he said. Characterizing the Bakken as a long-term play, he wanted to target both it and the Cardium, which has taken off again in recent years. “Our Rig 2 drilled out there all winter for PetroBakken,” Rae said of the Cardium in Alberta. That rig is now working in southeast Saskatchewan. Elements of Crusader’s rig design follow a philosophy common in the military: two is one, and one is none. They went with big pumps for long reach horizontals and high torque mud motors. “We specifically went with 1,000 horsepower pumps. It’s done us well,” he said. Note that “pumps” is plural. Rig 2 and now Rig 3, under construction, have two mud pumps. They can run together or separately. “On the Cardium, we were running two pumps on the build section,” he said. “If one pump craters on you, you can kick the other in, and the customer doesn’t lose an hour.” Along the same lines, you will find two generators in the combination building of Rig 2, and two shaker tables. Rig 3 will have the same. Hydraulic catwalks are standard. “There’s a safety factor involved. It’s easier on tubulars, too,” Rae said. “We’re moving fairly quick. Our catwalk can be run right from the floor.” “We went with bigger floor motors for the drawworks – 880 horsepower Cummins, for faster tripping. Rig 3 will be even more powerful than Rig 2, with two 1,300 horsepower mud pumps powered by two 1,350 horsepower Cummins diesel engines. Rig two uses two 1,000 horsepower mud pumps. “We buy all our engines from Southern Industrial in Weyburn,” he said. All three rigs have two-speed Rouse Industries clutches. (Rouse Industries and Southern Industrial and Truck are sister companies. Southern Industrial assembles engine packages, while Rouse Industries makes clutches and transmissions for drilling rigs.) Mud tanks on Rigs 2 and 3 have roofs on them. People “Your people, your services, that’s what makes you successful. My office staff, field supervisor, rig managers, all the way down to the roughnecks I’ve got great crews. They do great work, and that’s what makes us successful.

“It’s not about me. It’s about all my people,” he said. The field supervisor is Mark Kovar. His brother Clark is rig manager on Rig 2, while Ron McIntosh is rig manager for Rig 1. The rig manager for Rig 3 has not yet been named. Dale Miller is the company’s chief financial officer in Calgary, while Joanne Perkins is the Yorkton-based controller. Colleen Bramall is the safety co-ordinator. “My three oldest kids or their husband are all in the oilpatch,” Rae said. “Larrie is a well-site supervisor, Lindsay does sales for a specialty tool company and son-inlaw, Durwin, is a lease construction supervisor. My daughter Monica has worked with me at my consulting company in the past. Steven is in university in Regina, and the youngest, Jordan, is going into grade six at St Paul’s school in Yorkton.” The colours of Crusader’s rigs are a tribute to Rae’s father, who was a John Deere salesman. The rigs are painted John Deere green with yellow accents. “We’re blessed in southeast Saskatchewan to have some of the best companies and support services there is,” Rae concluded.

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B10

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Provident buys 2/3 of Three Star Trucking By Brian Zinchuk Alida - Three Star Trucking Ltd. got a serious boost in July, with Provident Energy Ltd. purchasing a two-thirds interest in the long-time family company. Three Star was founded by patriarch Jim Boettcher, and is now operated by sons Ken and Tim Boettcher.

The deal was reached on July 11. The transaction is valued at approximately $20 million, comprised of about $8 million in cash, 945,000 Provident shares, and approximately $4 million of assumed bank debt and working capital. “The acquisition of this two-thirds interest in Three Star expands

Provident’s logistics footprint in the Bakkenarea, one of the most exciting resource plays in North America, and creates a strong partnership with a highly regarded and growing player in the industry,” Doug Haughey, president and chief executive oﬃcer of Provident, said in a news release. In addition to build-

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ing a strong presence in crude oil hauling, the transaction will also provide Provident the opportunity to further expand its NGL and diluent logistics service businesses. Provident will retain the option to purchase the remaining minority interest in Three Star after three years from the closing date. The acquisition will be immediately accretive to both cash ﬂow and earnings on a per share basis, Provident said in the release. Ken and Jim Boettcher sat down with

Pipeline News in their Alida headquarters on Aug. 12 to discuss the sale. “They came to us last October,” Ken said of the origins of the deal. Asked if this was an exit strategy for the family, he responded, “In time. It shows I can retire at some point.” Jim, 73, piped up, “Retirement isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be unless you’ve got something to do. You’ve got to have a purpose.” Ken is 52, while Tim is 45. Mary, Jim’s wife and

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Ken and Tim’s mother, has been office manager since the company’s inception, and is still involved in administration. The sale of twothirds of the company follows a trend in recent years of long-time family operations in the southeast Saskatchewan fluid-hauling business either selling outright or selling majority shares in their businesses. “It’s like playing cards. You have to know when to hold the, and when to fold them,” Jim said, adding a larger company attracts more attention. “They (Provident) weren’t the only ones interested,” Ken said, noting there were at least five or six other expressions of interest in buying the company. “This is the best by far,” Jim said. “When we sat down with them at the board table, they’re first class.” ɸ Page B11

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B11

Three Star to get into NGL hauling ɺ Page B10 The two sons will still retain one-third ownership. Jim and Mary are out in regards to ownerhip, but remain active with the operations. Jim will remain on the board of the company, and Mary is still in administration. Ken is vice-president of operations, taking care of supervision, pricing and sales, while Tim is the vice-president of operations looking after purchasing and leased trucks. Ken stressed, “Our sign is not changing. Our accountant in Regina, he’s staying too.” “As of now, nothing’s changing. Their strategy is to leave us running. Their strategy of keeping us was for us to keep one third.” The company was founded in 1962, and incorporated in 1969. It will be 50 years old next year. “We run everything, the same as before,” Ken said. “We have someone to answer to, but we run it as we had. They like that we’ve always shown a good proﬁt, and they’d like that to continue. They’re looking at a longterm investment.”

Three Star’s forte is ﬂuid hauling. That includes a lot of emulsion transfers, crude oil movement, saltwater transfers and service work. Ken said of Provident, “They’re going to broaden our horizons.” Jim added, “They wanted to double the size.” That would be spread throughout Western Canada. Three Star currently operates 180 trucks, 90 of which are their own, and the remainder are leased operators. They’ve added quite a few recently. The staﬀ is now approximately 260. Three Star is hiring three to four people a week, with several orientation sessions going on each week. They are

adding an average of six trucks a month. “We’ve got a lot of people coming in from Manitoba and various other parts of western Canada,” Ken said. Three Star principally operates in southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba, but it also does work in Alberta, North Dakota and Montana. Indeed, a substantial portion of its business is running Bakken oil from North Dakota to Enbridge terminals in Saskatchewan, where it then is pipelined to Cromer, Manitoba. From Cromer it ﬂows through the Enbridge mainline back down to the United States. ɸ Page B12

Adding frac tanks has meant adding frac heaters. In front of one here is Ken Boettcher, left, and Jim Boettcher. The two of them, along with Tim Boettcher, are the senior management team for Three Star Trucking.

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B12

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

North Dakota run key part of business

Lasso Rig 2 was sighted drilling north of Estevan in mid-August. This is a high dynamic range photo, a combination of Àves exposures taken in one second. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

ɺ Page B11 “It’s down from what it was. We’re still doing 12,000 to 13,000 barrels per day. At one time, it was 18,000 barrels per day.. “We have about 70 trucks designated for the U.S. run,” Ken said. Most of that is from the Stanley and New Town areas of North Dakota, running up to the Steelman and Alida terminals in Saskatchewan. The majority goes to Alida. The wet spring and ﬂooding conditions caused a few hiccups, especially since Highway 39 running to the 24 hour border crossing at North Portal was closed to truck traﬃc for a while. “It closed our 24-hour port, so we only had a 14 hour window to haul through,” Ken said.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B13

Driller Ryan Neilson, left, and tool push Jeremy Wilson bolt down the generator for Vortex Drilling Rig 2.

Vorted Drilling Rig 1 went to work in June.

Vortex already working on Rig 2 Estevan – Just two months after their first rig drilled its first hole, Vortex Drilling Ltd. is hard at work assembling Rig 2. “We’re well over half-done now,” Vortex vice-president Jason Geysen said on Aug. 17. “The generator is in. The pump is on its way. The mud tank and boiler are getting painted right now.” Vortex Rig 1 went to work on June 4, and by mid-August had completed six holes. There have been no difficulties in commissioning their first rig, Geysen reported. “No down time at all.” He noted that installing a 1,000 horsepower mud pump over a more common 800 horsepower pump has made a “huge difference.” The building of Vortex Rig 2 started right after Rig 1. Geysen, Harvey Turcotte and some of their men started assembly on July 25. Dennis Day is now rig manager of Rig 1. They have most of the crew lined up for Rig 2. “Quite a few resumes fly in now,” Geysen said. The plan is to have Rig 2 go out in the first half of October. The rig is being built by Do-All Metal Fabricating of Estevan, with some components coming out of their Glenburn, North Dakota shop. As is typical of rigs built there, the crews of the drilling company are taking an active part in its assembly. Like Rig 1, Vortex Rig 2 is a 3,500 metre rated telescoping dou-

ble. Harvey Turcotte, Vortex president, said, “I’m hoping to see us building Rig 3 maybe in June, if things are good. It’s like anything, I guess.”

“The move time on this Rig (Rig 1) is exceptional. We’re really competitive on move time,” he said. In three hours, the rig can be completely torn down and you can

be in your truck on the way home, according to Geysen. It takes about one and a half hours to rig up with two crews, he said. With the electrical

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design there are fewer electrical connections to be made, and “way less problems,” according to Geysen. The company will be moving people up as it grows. “Training

green people is a good thing,” Turcotte said. “If they start with us they are more likely to stay long term. You have to be willing to train people, its beneﬁcial to the company.”

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B14

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

New home for Independant Pump Co By Brian Zinchuk Estevan – After four and a half years in operation, Estevan-based Independent Pump Co. needed more space. The company builds

and services subsurface rod pumps. All their parts come from third party sources, and are then assembled in their shop. The company also carries sundry items

needed on a day-to-day basis, from stuﬃng box packing to rod collars. “We knew we needed to expand into a new shop,” said Cary Wock, general manager, who

owns and operates the ﬁrm with Jeremy Mack and Mike Gervais. “We basically doubled our size, from just over 5,000 square-feet to over 10,000. We added another set of work vises and have a third set to put in as well.” “We can do quite a bit more work in a day now, probably half as much more.” The new location on Mississippian Drive puts it within a stone’s throw distance of all the major oilﬁeld supply stores in town. That was strategic thinking on the part of the owners.

Right: This working model shows how an insert rod pump works. The inset photo shows a close-up of what is happening at the end of a stroke.

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“We wanted to be in town still, close to all the supply stores. We wanted to be centrally located to them,” he said. Truckers can pick up sucker rod nearby, then get their pumps. “We invested a lot into this shop and its equipment. It is basically a state-of-the-art facility for ﬁxing pumps,” noted Wock. ɸ Page B15

Cary Wock shows one of the pump displays to be used for pump schools, offered in their new boardroom and training facility.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B15

People, service drives growth The staff of Independent Pump Co. keeps growing. Back row, from left are Reece Donovan, Ryan Wock, Jackie Olsen, Darren Olsen, Thomas Glab and Jeff Austin. Front row, from left, are Tanya McLenehan, Cameron Donovan, Mike Gervais, Cary Wock and Jeremy Mack.

ɺ Page B14 There is a massive water-base parts washer, a sandblaster, and a huge compressor to run all the air tools. The company has gone from being open five days a week and an on-call system during off hours to seven days a week operations. “Now we’ve got guys here all the time,” Wock said. “In the last year, we pumped our staff from eight to 12. We’re still looking for two more. It’s hard to find people. “We’ve got a lot of good guys in the shop. We need guys to drive trucks. We have three or four trucks on the road every day, running from Manitoba to Bengough to Kenosee. It’s two hours every way but south.” “We’re picking up more and more business,” Wock said.

As for what drives it, he said, “People, service. Service is huge in the industry. Better service and people is what keeps clients coming back. “We do a lot of hands-on with the customers, day-to-day, trying to find new, innovative ways to keep their pumps pumping longer. “All of our pumps are built to meet and exceed API standards.” The new office’s upstairs boardroom is set up for training on pumps, with cut-away displays and a working plexiglass model. The facility is meant to run pump schools for clients. “Customer learning tools is my biggest focus for this year,” Wock said. While the company will continue to look at different areas, “Right now, we are keeping our focus here. Our main focus is bottom hole pumps.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B17

Making the casing connection This is an open set of drilling rig power tongs.

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before it goes down hole. Their usage is an important part of the assembly of the casing or frac liner of a well. Gilliss Power Tongs has been active in the business in southeast Saskatchewan for nearly two decades. Originally based on an acreage near Lampman, in 2008 It moved to a new, larger facility just a few miles north of Estevan on Highway 47. Dean Gilliss is the founder of the company, and until last month, the manager. He’s stepping back in September to a semi-retired role while his son Dylan takes over the management reigns. “I’ll be phasing myself out totally over the next six months,” said the aﬀable Dean over a coﬀee at the shop. Dean’s wife, Bonnie, is retired from the business as well. Logan, the younger son, is a tong hand, and will be moving into the sales position vacated by Dylan. “We run surface, intermediate, production casing and frac liners on drilling and service rigs,” Dean explained. “We provide power tongs and the expertise to run them. We supply the operator

for the tongs. We’re not a rental company. “My customer is the oil company.” Their primary products are conventional power tongs and integral tongs, which have an additional set of tongs as a backup to keep the bottom joint stationary. The only diﬀerence between power tongs used on a drilling rig and service rig is the size. “The bigger the tong, the more work they can do,” Dean said. “On a drilling rig, if it’s not drilling pipe, they use third party tongs,” Dylan said. About 70 per cent of their business is with drilling rigs, the remainder is on service rigs. “Drilling has been the bread and butter,” Dylan said. “Up to three years ago, we never did service rig work. Now we do four or ﬁve service rig jobs a day.” A recent addition to the lineup has been air slips for both drilling and service rigs. While common on service rigs, they are not at all common on drilling rigs. Gilliss Power Tongs started carrying them as a way to reduce the physical strain on the workers.

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The move to air slips was instigated after one of their staﬀ essentially wore his back out. Now, if you’re getting Gilliss Power Tongs to do the work, expect the air slips to be part of the package. Dylan said, “We bought one set, and we had to buy more, because everybody wanted them. We have enough to run them on every job we do.” It’s a way to engineer-out hazards. The result is much easier on staﬀ, and helps with retention. Typical well On a typical Bakken well, the tong hands will be present three to four times. First, they will run the surface casing, which is 9-5/8 inches in size. Then they will come back to run the intermediate casing for the build section, usually seven inches in size. The frac string will then run 4-1/2 inches, followed by the tie-back string, also 4-1/2 inches in size. A monobore well will see surface casing at 8-5/8 inches and production casing running from the surface casing to the toe of the well at 5-1/2 inches. Monobores are more common in Manitoba. Cemented liner wells, which have been gaining in popularity, will have a centralizer installed between joints to insure proper centralization between the liner and well bore for a proper cement

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job. Dylan explained, “We’re out there at the start of the hole after midnight on a move day. It takes about an hour to run 15 joints of surface casing. Four to six days later, we’ll run the intermediate casing, which takes four to 12 hours to do. “Another four to six days later, we come back and run the frac liner. If there’s a tieback on the drilling rig, it’s roughly 12 hours after you finish the frac string.” When it comes to hiring tong hands, Dean said, “We like to have someone with drilling experience, mostly roughnecks, motorhands and even derrickhands.” “They have a general idea of a drilling rig, so that they only have to worry about the tongs. He then has more time to concentrate on what he should be doing,” Dylan said. Their trucks are set up with two 100-ft. hydraulic hoses to operate the tongs, powered by the power take-off on their trucks. The tongs on a drilling rig can only move a small fraction of a turn at a time, whereas power tongs are much, much quicker, and apply a specific torque. Asked why drilling rigs don’t run their

own power tongs, Dylan said it comes to skill and maintenance. “If screwed up, there is the potential to lose the well over it, which is why it’s a skilled task,” he said. Tong hands are at a premium, and paid a premium wage based on a guaranteed salary and commission. Dean said the work is more stable than working on a drilling rig, because the work is spread out among several drilling rigs. But while the pay is good, there are drawbacks, too. “You’re expected to be on call 24/7, and you can never be more than half an hour away from the shop,” Dean said, noting it’s a very restrictive lifestyle. Tong hands are ensured six days off a month. Otherwise they work on a first-in, first-out rotating basis. “Rigs are running shorthanded. Everybody’s running shorthanded. We could use three more guys, maybe four,” Dylan said. Staff have to be willing to relocate to Estevan, he noted. Service rig work results in more normal days, as they typically get their jobs done in one day, and during the day. It affords more of a life for the tong hands. Ups and downs

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50 to 60 rigs working in the region, and now that number has climbed to about 70 in southeast Saskatchewan and another dozen in southwest Manitoba. “In 1997 I had eight trucks, but in 1998, it all came to a ‘Whoa!’ It got down to just me, and I sold oﬀ some equipment,” Dean said. The company was sold three years ago to Steve Halverson from Dickinson, North Dakota, a man who has been in the tong business since 1975, and has hundreds of employees. Power tong hands are at a premium. ɸ Page B18 Photo submitted

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“In the spring of ’08 we decided we couldn’t stay in the old shop. We bought a home in Estevan and set up a new shop. Everything was done on time,” he said. “We went from a 40 x 40 ft. building to 60 x 120 ft.” The company has had ups and down over the years. In 2008, they had six trucks. “Now we have 11,” Dean said. “We started Dec. 1, 1992,” Dean said. “When I started, there were only 12 rigs running in southeast Saskatchewan. It just kind of grew, and we grew with it.” By 1996, there were

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Dean Gilliss, left, is retiring, while Dylan Gilliss is taking over the manager position.

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Good pay, but on call constantly ɺ Page B17 While the sale was for 100 per cent of the company, the Gilliss family still runs it, and is very active in supporting the local community. Pipeline News photographed both Dean and Dylan cooking up lobster at the Weyburn Oil Show this past spring, for instance. Staff were dispatched to Roche Percee to assist with sandbagging efforts during the flood. At 52, Dean is retiring from the tong company, but has another venture. “My wife and I own Gilliss oil tools. It’s a tool to pick up tubing and casing on a drilling or service rig, but predominantly service rigs.”

DUSTIN DUNCAN, MLA Weyburn - Big Muddy 35-5th Street NE, Weyburn, SK S4H 0Y9 dduncan.mla@accesscomm.ca (Tel) 842-4810 (Fax) 842-4811 (Toll Free) 1-877-842-4810 www.dduncan.ca

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B19

AGAT Laboratories holds open house Estevan – AGAT Laboratories first established a presence in Estevan two years ago this September. Now it is adding staff and depots and making a name for itself. Nathan Scott, general manager of chemistry operations for Western Canada, said the primary reason for their growth in Estevan is oil and gas testing. “We do hydrocarbon sampling and have a collection depot for environmental samples and used oil,” he said. AGAT Laboratories provides analytical laboratory solutions for the energy, environmental, mining, transportation, industrial, agri-food and life sciences sectors. Jim Slaven is the Estevan field tech supervisor. He established the Estevan location two years ago. “This branch has grown quite a bit with more clients and more staff,” he said. Slaven noted that as new wells are drilled, the oil companies require samples of the oil and gas. It’s also required for determining how to dispose of used drilling mud. “We test the mud and see if it’s environmentally safe, based on local regulations,” Scott said. “If non-toxic, and the salinity is good, it can be landspread.” “When the consultant is going to landspread it, they check the soil where they’re going to spread the drilling waste, before it is spread,” he said. This is to provide a baseline before the addition of the drilling, just in case issues arise later. “Usually the drilling consultants want [the results] as soon as possible, typically less than 24 hours. In mud testing, salt content, hydrocarbon content and toxicity are the big ones,” he said. “If they are looking to landfill,

there’s a set of landfill regulations that need to be met.” The company’s environmental lab has extended its hours to seven days a week. Instruments are loaded during the day and run overnight, providing results the next morning. In mid-August, Saskatchewan hit a record number of active drilling rigs, fuelling more demand for sampling. Once a well is up, it’s time to get samples of its production. “Usually about a week after the well has been flowing, they’ll take samples of the oil and gas,” Slaven said. Items tested for include density, sulphur content and API for oil. For gas, it’s always a “routine gas sample,” which includes tests for the seven main hydrocarbons: methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, as wells as nitrogen, hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide, and helium. “We also do produced water testing for pH, resistivity and ions which identify the formation that the water is coming from,” said Scott. Frac operations also require testing. “After a frac, they want to see what changed,” he said. The company has mobile labs for on-site monitoring of the frac gas, usually either nitrogen or propane. AGAT Laboratories added a second field technician this past spring. Stacey Loew joined the team in May, having worked for a local mud company before that. “It’s been good. Basically I go out into the field and get oil and gas samples,” she said during the open house. They now have four people working out of Estevan, covering southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba. They also assist in the Shaunavon area when needed. It was there Pipeline News heard

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Weyburn. The locations vary from oilﬁeld service companies to convenience stores. “They take care of the packaging, making waybills and sending it,” Slaven said.

Jim Slaven cooks up burgers and sausage at the AGAT Laboratories open house in Estevan.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Big Sky fully booked until breakup 2012 Oxbow â&#x20AC;&#x201C; A few months ago incessant rain had kept Oxbow-based Ensign Big Sky Drilling largely, and frustratingly, idled. With some warm, dry weather, that has turned around in a big, big way. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re at 100 per cent active rigs,â&#x20AC;? said Rick Mann, operations manager for Big Sky. The company is looking at full utilization until spring breakup, 2012. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of catch-up to do. Everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trying to make up for the three months we lost due to weather.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see more rigs move into the area,â&#x20AC;? added Darryl Maser, general manager for Ensign Drilling Partnershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Champion Drilling and Big Sky Drilling divisions. Maser noted the activity level is dependent on the economy and price of oil. Under $70 a barrel, and things slow down. Above that level, things stay busy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Anything that pops open on windows is easy to ďŹ ll,â&#x20AC;? he said. A â&#x20AC;&#x153;windowâ&#x20AC;? is a window of opportunity when a rig that is normally booked by one company is able to squeeze in a hole for another company before returning to its original contracted employer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If a well gets rained out, a rig will have a window to do one or two wells,â&#x20AC;? Mann said. Everybody is clamouring for rigs, they agreed. The largest driller in southeast Saskatchewan, the company has 20 drilling rigs listed with the Ca-

nadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors (CAODC), plus one labour contract working in solution potash mining and two delisted rigs also working in potash. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been doing that quarter since 1986,â&#x20AC;? Mann said about the eďŹ&#x20AC;ort to control ďŹ&#x201A;ooding at the Mosaic potash mine at Esterhazy. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lots of work in heavy oil,â&#x20AC;? said Maser. That has resulted in a number of Champion rigs ďŹ nding work in the Lloydminster region, as well as Viking horizontals near Kindersley. One Champion rig has even found its way into southwest Manitoba. As of Aug. 18, six Champion rigs were working in Saskatchewan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Viking play has been a good play at Kindersley and Kerrobert,â&#x20AC;? Maser said, adding the number of Champion rigs in Saskatchewan could soon rise to eight. Three of Ensignâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new ADR (automated drilling rig) are at work in the play. Using an electric topdrive on top of massive hydraulic cylinders, the design gets rid of most of the muscle work on a rig. Another ADR rig will be coming to southeast Saskatchewan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re building an ADR designated for Big Sky for delivery before the end of the year,â&#x20AC;? Mann said, adding for the most part, new rigs from Ensign are ADRs. É¸ Page B21

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Ensign to offer directional drilling ɺ Page B20

easier to draw hands for those rigs, he noted. “Automated is the There are lot of rig hands way of the future.” from Regina and SaskaThe majority of the toon. work these days is inThe majority of their ﬁeld drilling, with not rigs have swing crews. as many tight holes as For those that don’t, a before. couple of days break During the middle may take place between of last winter, a discus- wells. sion with the same Big If utilization stays Sky representatives fo- high, you can keep cused on the shortage steady hands, according of workers available. Yet to Mann. After the long now the division is run- breakup, everyone was ning with all its rigs ac- itching to get back work. tive. Where did they ﬁnd Their last rig to be acthe people? tivated, Rig 72, went to “We do recruiting all work in mid-August. over the world,” Mann “It was hard on said. people. They had no“Prior to breakup, where else to go. It was utilization was 100 per so widespread,” Maser cent. It’s getting those said of the spring and people to come back,” early summer slowdown. Maser added. Western Canada had Lots of workers slowed down “big time.” have come from ManiMann had plenty of toba, Mann said, along calls from men looking with British Columbia, to go to work. northern Saskatchewan, Accommodations and even other compa- have been a serious issue nies. in southeast SaskatchWith rigs work- ewan, and will likely be ing close to Regina, it’s even more pressing with

the strong activity levels anticipated this winter. “It makes it diﬃcult to bring people in,” Mann said. Big Sky personnel will often use open camps and hotel rooms if needed, but it’s an employee’s decision where they lay their head. “We leave it up to them,” he said. Directional drillers “We’ve expanded our Ensign Atlantic Directional Drilling into southeast Saskatchewan. It’s really new. A few local guys have come to work down here,” Mann said. “There are ﬁve guys so far with intentions to expand.” The directional drillers will be based out of Oxbow. They started work after road bans were lifted. Ensign purchased Atlantic Directional Inc. in early January. At the time it operated 14 directional drilling systems in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, ac-

cording to Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin. United Way fundraiser This fall Big Sky will be launching its annual

fundraiser in support of the United Way. Last year the company raised $96,000 for the Estevan United Way, including

Ensign’s matching donation. The project will begin in mid-September with a kick-oﬀ community barbecue.

Rick Mann, left, Big Sky’s operations manager, and Darryl Maser, right, general manager for Ensign Drilling Partnership’s Champion Drilling and Big Sky Drilling divisions.

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B22

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Precision’s new rig builds on the rise Calgary – Precision Drilling Corporation expects orders for its contract drilling service to spike for the remainder of the year with pent-up customer demand from a wet spring in Western Canada and active oil and gas drilling in the United States. Precision expects to have an average of approximately 124 rigs committed under term contracts in North America in the third quarter of 2011, an average of 110 contracts for the fourth quarter, and 87 for the ﬁrst quarter of 2012. The growing demand for oil and

gas liquids is being met with the ongoing delivery of 39 new Tier 1 Super Series drilling rigs including nine from a 2010 new build program and 30 slated this year. “While Precision’s Canadian activity was frustrated by an exceptionally wet spring, our U.S. operations continued to deliver strong results during the second quarter,” said Kevin Neveu, Precision’s president and chief executive oﬃcer in a second quarter news release on July 22. “Indications from our customers are highly encouraging; demand for

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Precision’s services in Canada and the United States will continue the upward trend of the last several quarters as oil and gas liquids drilling and well servicing activity continues to grow. “The customer drilling programs delayed by the wet Canadian spring have served to further enhance demand for the second half of the year as the weather improves.” The strong demand for Precision’s high performance Tier 1 and Tier 2 rigs is reflected by increasing day rates and interest in new build Super Series rigs. Of the 21 rigs booked during the second quarter, 18 of those are fully contracted and a further two new builds were contracted in the first three weeks of July, increasing the company’s 2011 new build program to 30. Precision reports that 16 of the 30 new build rigs are scheduled to be deployed in the Canadian market and 14 in the U.S. over the next 12 months. “The 39 new build Tier 1 Super Series rigs announced over the past 12 months confirms our customers’ confidence in the long-term sustainability and growth of oil and natural gas liquids rich drilling in North America,” said Neveu. Precision reports that demand remains very strong for additional Tier 1 Super Series rigs for both Canada and the U.S. with high drilling activity this year on both sides of the border.

Precision believes that customer demand, specifically for customers operating in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian Basin will result in additional new build rig opportunities throughout 2011. Oil plays in Canada, such as the Cardium, Viking and heavy oil, will provide the additional opportunities for new build rigs during the year. Precision continues to see attractive opportunities to upgrade lower tier rigs. The increase in oil and liquids rich natural gas drilling in areas like the Permian Basin, Bakken and Eagle Ford have been strong and the U.S. oil rig count as at July 15 was 73 per cent higher than it was a year ago. Precision has more equipment working in oil related plays than at any other time in the last 20 years, while approximately 35 per cent of Precision’s active rig count is drilling for natural gas targets. Precision’s average active rig count in the U.S. for the second quarter of 2011 was up two rigs over the first quarter of 2011 and 16 per cent over the same period in 2010. In Canada, Precision averaged 46 rigs operating during the second quarter of 2011, up from 40 rigs during the second quarter of 2010. Precision says it expects to have over 130 rigs working once the ground dries sufficiently to facilitate the movement of rigs. ɸ Page B23

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High drilling level expected ɺ Page B22 “The high activity levels expected later this year and next winter in Canada will likely create labour challenges for the oilfield services industry, “said Neveu. “We believe Precision is uniquely positioned to meet the challenge of the imminent labour shortage with well-staffed field operations support-

ed by employee retention, recruiting, training and leadership development programs.” For 2011, based on current drilling rig contracts, Precision has an average of 39 rigs in Canada under term contract, 75 in the U.S. and two in Mexico. For 2012, Precision currently has term contracts in place for an average

Precision Drilling is going full bore now, and building more rigs to boot.

of 67 rigs, with 38 in Canada and 29 in the U.S. and Mexico. Precision spent $179 million of its 2011 capital budget of $841 million by the end of the second quarter. A total of $484 million is slated for expansion capital and includes the cost to complete the drilling rigs from the 2010 new build rig program and the new build rigs for 2011. The total capital expenditures also include an estimated $216 million to

upgrade 15 to 20 rigs in 2011 and to purchase long lead time items for the company’s capital inventory. Long lead time items include top drives, masts, and engines that can be used for North American or international new build rig opportunities and rig tier upgrades. An additional $183 million of capital expenditures is expected to carry forward to 2012 to complete the 2011 new build rig program.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Colt Companies former CEO honoured

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Carlyle’s John Read was inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame during the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn on June 1. Here is his biography, as presented during the induction ceremony: John Read was born and raised in Carlyle, Saskatchewan. John graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1970 with a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering. He spent several years in the ﬁeld doing engineering work for a number of oil and gas companies. Then, in 1974 Read accepted an oﬀer to join a new start-up company, Colt Engineering. Over his career with Colt, he held various engineering and project management positions, was general manager of one of the engineering divisions and was the founding general manager of Cord Projects, Colt’s construction division. In 1983, Read assumed the role of president and CEO of the Colt Companies, a position he held until 2006 when he retired. During this time, the Colt Companies became one

John Read (right), shakes the hand of Premier Brad Wall during his induction into the Saskatchewan Petroleum of Fame.

of Canada’s leading engineering and construction ﬁrms with 4,500 employees in Calgary, Edmonton, Sarnia, Toronto and Anchorage, Alaska. Although his resume claims that he is retired, Read stays too busy to use that word. His current directorships include Canadian Oil Sands, Oilsands Quest, PFB Corporation, Anterra Energy Inc and Axia Netmedia Corp. During his career Read has participated in

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Saskatoon engineer rises to head of Nexen Saskatoon’s Charlie Fischer was inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry during the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn on June 1. Here is his biography, as presented during the induction ceremony: Charles Fischer was born in Saskatoon and attended the University of Calgary, graduating in chemical engineering. Like many of our recipients today,

Fischer started his career working in the engineering end of the oil business, working for companies such as Dome Petroleum and Hudson’s Bay Oil and Gas. He eventually returned to school and in 1982, after ﬁve years of night school while holding down a full-time job, Charlie earned his MBA from the University of Calgary. Fischer served in increasingly senior roles in companies such as Bow For 24 hour emergency service call: (306)861-2841 Parts: (306) 842-6100

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Valley Industries, TransCanada Pipelines, Encor Energy, Talisman Energy and Nexen. On June 1, 2001 Charlie was appointed president and chief executive oﬃcer, a position he held until his retirement in 2008. Fischer remains active in the industry through his role on the boards of Pure Technologies Ltd. and Enbridge Inc. He also serves on the boards of the Climate Change and Emission Management Corporation (CCEMC) and Alberta Innovates – Energy and Environment Solutions. On the national front, Fischer is a participant in the Clean Energy Dialogue between the governments of Canada and the United States, co-chairing the Carbon Capture and Storage discussions. Fischer is very active in the community. He sits on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary. He is chair of the Hull Child and Family Foundation, chair of the Honourary Patrons’ Council for the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, vice-chair of the Canada West Foundation, a member of the Calgary Airport Authority Business Development Advisory Council, and a special adviser to SAIT Polytechnique, supporting their capital campaign. Fischer and his wife Joanne have a simple philosophy about community service: they believe in leaving things better than they found them. He has achieved this in spades. Fischer co-chaired a capital campaign which raised over $50 million to support a new Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary. He is a past board member of the Canadian Olympic Development Authority (CODA) and the McMahon Stadium Society. Fischer has received extensive recognition for his eﬀorts. He has received numerous awards and distinctions from the University of Calgary, including their Faculty of Manage-

ment’s MAX Award, the Hal Godwin Award for Excellence in International Business, the Faculty Association Recognition Award, the Haskayne School of Business Distinguished Leader Award, an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree and the university’s Canadian Engineering Leader Award. Fischer’s other distinctions include the Association of Fund Raising Professionals’ Generosity of Spirit Award, the President’s Award from Calgary’s Strategic Leadership Forum, the President’s Partnership Award from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, the 2005 Business Person of the Year by Alberta Venture magazine, the 2009 Resource Person of the Year Award from the Alberta Chamber of Resources and the 2009 Canadian Energy Person of the Year by the Energy Council of Canada. Most recently, in April, 2010 Charlie received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship. Fischer is married to Joanne Cuthbertson, Chancellor of the University of Calgary. They have two daughters, Kate and Lindsay. He enjoys tennis, skiing and golf for relaxation.

Charlie Fischer spoke on behalf of the hall of fame inductees, saying if you create the right environment, people will make investments and create jobs.

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B26

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Canalta to build hotel in Shaunavon Shaunavon - The Canalta Group and The Town of Shaunavon conﬁrmed on Aug. 3 that a development agreement has been reached to develop a new Canalta Hotel in the community. Shaunavon has been seeing extraordinary growth in the oilpatch as of late, as reported in the August edition of Pipeline News. Accommodations are a key limiting factor for the area. The Canalta Group is based in Drumheller, Alberta and has recently opened Canalta Hotel Properties in Weyburn, Moosomin, Tisdale and Humboldt. Canalta will also open another Canalta-brand hotel in Melfort in September 2011. The company’s strategy to date has been building in smaller centres, as opposed to the larger cities. The Shaunavon Canalta Hotel is expected to cost approximately $8 million and will be located on the southwest corner of Highway 37 and Third Avenue. The three-storey Shaunavon Canalta will feature 57 premium guest rooms, whirlpool and steam room, business centre, meeting room and ﬁtness facility. All their new properties now include an outdoor barbecue pad and stand for guests to barbecue their own

Canalta built this hotel in Moosomin in recent years, and will soon be building one in Shaunavon.

food. That’s close to size of the twin Melfort and Tisdale facilities, which have 67 rooms each. Construction on the project will start in October 2011, with the hotel opening scheduled for August 2012. Once completed, the Canalta Hotel will employ up to 20 persons. The project will also employ another 50 or more workers while under construction. The Canalta Group is a family-owned hospitality company that owns and operates over 33 hotels operating under the Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge and Canalta banners. It established a beachhead in Saskatchewan several years ago when it built a Ramada in Weyburn, soon followed by its ﬁrst “Can-

The rooms in the Weyburn Canalta hotel are large, and feature either a king size or two queen size beds. Weyburn was the company’s beachhead into Saskatchewan. File Photo

alta” branded hotel next door. The Canalta Group also owns and operates Boston Pizza and A & W restaurants along with Canalta’s own brands, namely O’Shea’s Eatery & Ale House and Pros & Joes Sports Lounge. Beginning with one hotel in 1979, the company has grown dramatically in the past 30 years and today employs over 2,000 persons across Alberta and Saskatchewan. “We have been on a steady expansion over the past 15 years,” said Harry Hamilton, Canalta director of construction and development. “We design, build and operate all of our properties and moved into Saskatchewan four years ago. We had a number of hotel guests and corporate clients asking us desperately to develop in Saskatchewan. We like the business climate in Saskatchewan and the spirit of co-operation and support we receive from all the municipalities,” he added. Douglas Peterson, director of sales for Canalta, said that they Weyburn hotels have been running at very high occupancy rates, despite the slowness of the oilpatch until mid-July. In early July, they were running occupancy rates up to 98 per cent right out of the gate. Similarly, Moosomin’s Canalta, which primarily services potash development at Rocanville, was running in the high 90’s as well.

Thank You The Village of Kisbey Council and residents wish to send a “heartfelt thank you” to TS&M Supply, Apex Distribution Inc., and Sask. Water of Estevan, Vic Ippolito and Nankivell Trucking of Kisbey for their generous donation of pipe, pumps and manpower to help move the water invading our sewer system this Spring. The water was successfully pumped from the sewer lines with only minimal damage to a few homes. Once again, “Thanks!”

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B27

Former Technicoil CEO inducted

Art Dumont was inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

Art Dumont of Kennedy was honoured on June 1 with an induction into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame during the Saskatchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn. Here is his biography, as presented during the induction ceremony: Art Dumont was born and raised in Kennedy, Saskatchewan. Graduating from the University of Saskatchewan in 1967 with a degree in mechani-

cal engineering, it did not take long to start making his mark on the oil and gas industry. Dumont began his career with Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. where he held a range of engineering related positions. In 1975, he became the Canadian vice president and general manger of Bawden Drilling. By 1985, he had risen to become that company’s senior vice president of operations, responsible for all the companies operations in Canada, Texas, California, the UK, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Madagascar and Peru. It was a job that required a lot of travel – sometimes a little too much travel for his family’s liking. Through the 1990s, Dumont shared his talents with a number of companies. By 2000, he had served as president of Cactus Drilling in Texas; president of Kenting Energy Services Ltd.; chief operating ofﬁcer for Precision Drilling Corporation; president and CEO for Rock Bit Company Ltd.; and president and CEO of Cen Alta Energy Services Inc. Through most of the 2000s, he served as chairman and CEO of Technicoil, a company for which he still provides consulting services. Dumont has also been director of many organizations and holds numerous professional memberships. He was the C.J. Mackenzie Distinguished Graduate Lecturer in 1998, and has received awards from the Canadian Society of Exploration Geologists for Best Paper of the Year (1975) and the International Association of Drilling Contractors for Dedicated and Outstanding Service. Art is not only his name: he is also a patron of the arts and served as the chairman of the Holmans International Piano Competition for several years. He has also been an active supporter of the University of Saskatchewan. He was appointed to the

board in 2003 and served as board chair from 2006 to June 2010. He is a member of the ﬁnance and investments committee and serves as chair of the governance and executive committee. Dumont and his wife Bonnie met at university. They have two daughters and ﬁve grandchildren. Aside from the oil business and the arts, Dumont describes himself as a big game hunting fanatic. He has hunted bear and other big game extensively throughout Canada and the U.S., and has even done some wild turkey hunting.

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B28

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Novus drills Viking on target, sights Bearbear

Announcement

This scene of a drilling rig in operation for Novus Energy last fall in the Dodsland region is being repeated day after day this summer as the company is on target to drill 52 net Viking wells by the end of September. Photo submitted

Pemoco Ltd.

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Calgary – Novus Energy Inc. is on target to drill 52 net Viking wells in the Dodsland, Saskatchewan area and complete 46 of them by the end of September with just two drilling rigs running. The remaining wells will be completed early in the fourth quarter of the year, weather permitting. The company will be dedicating some of this year’s capital expenditure program towards the shooting of 3D seismic and the potential drilling of a number of Birdbear locations in the Dodsland region. Novus has also recently acquired a 100 per cent working interest in approximately 55 net sections of land with rights in the oil bearing Birdbear formation in the Dodsland area.

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This acquisition complements the 24 net sections of land with rights in this formation already owned by Novus. Successful Birdbear oil wells in the area are amongst the most economic in Canada due to high deliverability rates, large oil reserves and low drilling and completion costs, according to Novus. With recent land acquisitions in the Dodsland area, Novus now controls 115.25 net sections of Viking rights, and has identiﬁed 592 net Viking oil drilling locations. The Calgary-based junior oil and gas company is optimistic it will meet its year end exit production rate of 3,000 barrels of oil equivalent with its ongoing drilling spurt after a wet spring slowed ﬁeld operations for the industry in southern and central Saskatchewan. In a news update in mid-July, Novus reported it had drilled 26 Viking wells in Dodsland with 17 of 20 wells completed and producing, with the rest to follow.

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Drilling and completion costs in the Dodsland area continue to meet the company’s budgeted figures of $850,000 per well. The company expected to provide a further operations update in August, as more wells were completed, and more production data is being collected in what is shaping up to be a busy third quarter. Novus is also excited about the prospects for its Flaxcombe properties in the Dodsland region west of Kindersley. The company has determined that these previously undrilled lands are characterized by two distinct cycles in the Viking formation. Novus has now drilled two horizontal wells targeting the lower cycle this year, and one horizontal well targeting the upper formation. The initial pressure on these wells was in excess of 7,500 kilopascals which is amongst the highest pressures the company has recorded in any of its Viking wells drilled thus far. The three wells had all been producing for in excess of 30 days up to the July 17 news update and demonstrated estimated field level average production rates per well of 74 bpd for that 30 day period. Novus has mapped over 10 sections of its land where both cycles are present and expects this area to significantly add to its existing drilling inventory of 592 net Viking oil locations, and reserves and production growth as development of the two distinct Viking cycles progresses. Production from the recently drilled wells has exceeded expectations, and is supportive of the longer term potential the company believes the area exhibits.

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

B29

CanElson buys North Dakota driller Calgary - CanElson Drilling Inc. achieved strong financial results during the seasonally weak second quarter as foreign operations in the US and Mexico made significant contributions to revenue while much of the domestic rig operations were curtailed due to exceptionally wet spring conditions, including flood conditions in south east Saskatchewan. Second quarter EBITDA of $6.6 million and basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.04 compares to 2010 second quarter EBITDA and basic and diluted loss per share of $1.1 million and $0.02, respectively. The significant increase in second quarter EBITDA and EPS from the same period last year is a result of growth in the drilling rig fleet to 26.5 (net: 24.5) average rigs available for operation compared to an average of 8.1 (net: 7.1) drilling rigs and of revenue rate increase to an average of $28,400 per rig operating day compared to $26,500 per rig operating day in 2010. During the second quarter the CanElson continued to focus its growth on rigs capable of drilling horizontal and resource play wells with the acquisition of 100 per cent of the outstanding units of Redhawk Drilling, LLC for approximately $19 million (not to be confused with Red Hawk Well Servicing of Oxbow, Sask). Redhawk operated four drilling rigs in North Dakota which were primarily drilling horizontal wells which aligns with CanElson’s focus on rigs capable of drilling resource play wells. It also adds operations in a region that is focused on oil-based drilling activity. In June 2011 as part of the 2011 drilling rig construction program, the first of five “purposebuilt” small footprint ultra-heavy-duty telescoping double drilling rigs (“tele-double”) was deployed to west Texas and the second is scheduled to move to a location in Alberta during the month of August. As of Aug. 11, the remaining three tele-doubles are expected to be con-

structed and deployed for over the next five to six months. Currently the corporation has contracted or received contract advances on three of the four remaining tele-doubles to be constructed and anticipates receiving a contract advance and/or a contract on the fourth tele-double drilling rig. CanElson’s management continues to focus its rig fleet on purpose built tele-doubles as it believes these drilling rigs are the most capital and operating efficient rigs for the majority of resource plays the company targets. These teledoubles are designed for minimum rig up / rig out time, lower cost transportation and highly reliable operation. “This strategy allows us to offer competitive rates through the full

cycle, building long-term customer relations while targeting top quartile returns for our shareholders,” the company said in a release. President Randy Hawkings stated, “The strong second quarter results during the seasonally slow Canadian spring is largely due to developing strong performance based west Texas operations which are not subject to the same seasonality as Canada. We continued to focus our growth on oil and liquids weighted resource plays with the acquisition of Redhawk in June. The addition of Redhawk combined with our west Texas operations provides exposure to approximately 56 per cent of the US oil directed drilling market. We continue to have significant financial flexibility to

take advantage of selected growth opportunities. Presently 100 per cent of our drilling rig fleet is operating in resource plays. CanElson consistently achieves outstanding operational performance through efficient operations, well-trained crews and purpose-built drilling rigs.” As of Aug. 11, CanElson was operating 32 rigs: 18 drilling rigs in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, six (net: five) drilling rigs in Texas, four drilling rigs in North Dakota, two (net: one) drilling rigs and two (net: one) service rigs in the Misantla-Tampico Basin of Mexico. The corporation’s owned drilling rig fleet has an average age of less than 5 years and is all capable of drilling horizontal and resource play wells.

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B30

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Osum’s jpoint venture partner gets $10 million pilot fund Edmonton Alta – Laricina Energy Ltd., a joint venture pilot project partner of Osum Oil Sands Corp. at Saleski, will advance its thermal technology in the Grosmont carbonate reservoir with $10 million in project funding from the Alberta government’s Innovative Energy Technologies Program (IETP). The Saleski steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) Phase 2 pilot is one of six innovative energy projects to be funded in the latest round of IETP that is aimed at establishing Alberta as a world-class centre for responsible energy development. The successful projects were submitted by Cenovus Energy, EnCana Corporation, Laricina Energy, Pengrowth Corporation, and PennWest Petroleum. The projects address a variety of research interests such as advancing production technologies to produce bitumen in reservoirs that are not yet commercial, better understanding of coal bed methane production, and expansion of new enhanced oil and gas recovery technologies into previously inaccessible oil and gas deposits. The six projects will receive royalty adjustments totalling up to $27.5 million under the fourth and ﬁfth rounds of the IETP. This is in addition to the $134.3 million already allocated to 31 previously approved projects. A previous IETP program pilot at Saleski southwest of Fort McMurray is enabling Laricina to move from the laboratory to a ﬁeld project with the

objective of demonstrating SAGD bitumen recovery in the Grosmont carbonate reservoir. While SAGD has been demonstrated as a successful production method within the McMurray reservoirs, the application of SAGD to a carbonate environment presents different challenges and remains untested. Another project, Bodo East Associative-Polymer Pilot Flood located south of Lloydminster, which is being carried out by Pengrowth Corporation, has been approved for approximately $1.4 million. In this project, Pengrowth will be using an “associative polymer” that is brine tolerant as a way to enhance oil recovery. Current primary and waterflood recovery has achieved only four per cent recovery of the original oil in place and the expectation is that incremental oil recovery using polymers could be improved by two to three per cent over waterflooding. Polymer use is also expected to reduce water requirements. Applications for the next round of IETP will be accepted until Sept. 30 with the expectation that successful applicants will be notified by the end of the year. Further details on all IETP projects and applications are posted on the Alberta Energy web site.

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B32

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# 6117B 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt LT Automatic

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PIPELINE NEWS Saskatchewan’s Petroleum Monthly

C-Section September 2011

No one drills until the rig is moved

BRIAN ZINCHUK SE SASK Fast Trucking Photos PIX

CUTLINES:

NOTE: USE ONE OF THESE FAMILY PHOTOS PLEASE Day Clan 5507

The Day family of Carnduff are, back row, from left, on the truck: about 90 rigs today working in ManiNathan Day, Julia Day, Emily Day, Lexi Day, Lucas Daysoutheast and Levi Story and photos by Brian Zinchuk toba and Saskatchewan, and we’re movDay. Front row, from left: Kiana Apperley, Rachelle Apperley, ing quite a few ofDenthem,” he said. nis Day, Harly Tony Day, Vi Day, Lori Day Carnduﬀ – Day, The huge truck with the biggest tires and Larry In theDay. caseMissof the big truck described youare could possibly imagineRoss shortApperley, of a monster truckKyle, was Mitch ing Linda Apperley, Teresa Kyle and Cheryl above, let’s just say it’s pretty rare. Named sinking up to its axles. Ruts knee-deep were being dug. Kyle.

“Miss Kitty,” Dennis calls it a “Tony Yet with skilful use of the winch here, a push or a pull Day Special,” named after his father, with a dozer there, the components of Ensign Big Sky company patriarch Tony Day. It’s Drilling Rig 37 yielded and allowed themselves to be an articulating rock truck with a Day Clan 5519 removed from a soup-hole of a lease. winch and a bed, also known Day Clan 5522 Welcome to the world of rig moving. as a “commander.” “It took 17 hours to move this rig the last time,” The bottom of the The clan, Carnduff: fromIt left Kiana Apperley, saidDay Dennis Day,of general managerBack of Fastrow, Trucking. front end is sloped, Lexi Day, Julia Nathan Emily usually takes five Day, hours Lucas to move Day, a drilling rig. Day, Levi andDay, for good rea- Day, HarlyWhile Day. drilling Front, rigs from Larry Day,they Lorican’t Day, son. Vi Day, Tony Day, getleft: all the attention, NumerDennis Day, until Rachelle Apperley. Missing are Apperley, do anything they are moved onto a lease. Th at’sLinda ous times, Ross ApwhereTeresa the rigKyle, movers come in.and Their specialized perley, Mitch Kyle Cheryl Kyle. skills the truck and equipment deftly disassemble and reassemble the has to modular drilling rigs each and every day, and allow SasOps 5547 katchewan to keep drilling for its oil or natural gas. Ops 5549 Fast Trucking Service Ltd. is by far the largest rig Themover operations team Saskatchewan, and senior management oflonFast Trucking make sure the in southeast as well as the trucks know where they need to go. From left are gest established. It has the capacity to move up to Darwin Duncomb, Dennis Day, Tony Day, Larry Day and Laurie Connelly. seven rigs simultaneously. On Aug. 19 there were nine moves scheduled, and six crews at work. In at least one case, the second move was completed before most people would go for afternoon coffee. On this day, Saskatchewan had 122 active drilling rigs. Nickle’s Daily Oil Bulletin had reported two weeks earlier that a record had been set at 116. slide The pace was up the frenetic. berm on “There the edge of the are lease as it positions itself to move the stubborn building. “That’s why we build the big trucks,” Dennis said. They have three such units, and are currently building the fourth. The first was introduced four years ago. Asked how they accomplished the job before with smaller trucks, he said it took much longer. Two "sow" trucks move the derrick of Ensign Big Sky 37.

Dennis spent part of the day before dealing with the replacement of two blown tires on one of these units. Each tire comes in at $6,700, and Goodyear will only make them if you order them 20 at a time. It’s not easy getting such specialized equipment, according to Dennis. “We’ve got a truck similar to that we ordered in July 2006. It took 14 months to get it,” he said. Choreography A rig move is a ﬂurry of activity, like a highly choreographed stage show. Its director is the truck push, in this case Rick Renwick. With his radio clipped to his shoulder, he’s constantly directing various units in and out of the lease. On this job there are four bed trucks, each with a swamper, and three tractors (semis). The bed trucks don’t have trailers. Using a winch, they hoist up buildings or components onto their expansive beds, and then transfer them to the road for transport to the next location by another truck. There the process is repeated in reverse. You learn to keep your head on a swivel really fast. While watching a loader one second, “Miss Kitty” is coming your way the next. It’s important to keep on your toes. ɸ Page C2

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

The operations team and senior management of Fast Trucking make sure the trucks know where they need to go. From left are Darwin Duncomb, Dennis Day, Tony Day, Larry Day and Laurie Connelly.

Keep your head on a swivel ɺ Page C1 This was revealed even moreso later in the day, when we visited the assembly of a second rig on a much drier lease. The pace was much quicker, and the whirr of activity was dizzying. The rig crew assists the rig movers, telling them where to spot pieces, as well as performing a lot of the hands on work such removing the pins to lower the doghouse. Big Sky 37 toolpush Robert Lumley said his men help load the loads, and spot loads on the new lease. “Normally we can be up and running by three or four in the afternoon, no problem,” he said. A moment later one of the bed trucks backs up to the water tank. Its winch is used to lower the doghouse into the water tank for transport.

“Because of the conditions, we’re taking it out backwards,” Renwick said as the “sow,” a massive tandem-steer bed truck, had its wheels sink one foot into the ground. It’s apparent those huge balloon tires are absolutely necessary. The ground springs back several inches as the still-unloaded truck passed. This is a short move, just down the road. Short moves will use about 10 units, as they can shuttle back and forth between leases. For longer moves, the idea is to take enough trucks that they can move the whole rig in one trip. “For a hundred miles, you take 20,” Dennis said. “When you’re really busy, you use them really eﬃciently. “A hundred mile move, we like to take it all in one trip.” Such moves are not uncommon, as that’s just

two-thirds of the way across the southeast Saskatchewan oilpatch, and not counting southwest Manitoba. Items like pipe pubs go after the main components. “There are about 25 loads per rig nowadays, on average,” Dennis said. “The smallest would have 12. One rig we moved had 52. It used nitrogen and had a whole bunch of extra stuff.” Gin pole trucks are needed to pluck the derrick off the rig. About 42 per cent of rigs in the area are of the jackknife design, requiring this manoeuvre to be performed. A semi is placed at each end of the derrick. One drives forward, the other backward, to move it. It’s possible to go up to 50 miles per hour in this configuration. ɸ Page C3

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Many components to move ɺ Page C2 Between the new and old leases we briefly visited a service rig, part of the General Well Servicing Ltd. fleet. It, too, is painted green, as is the production testing unit beside it. Both are part of the Fast Trucking group of companies. Placement Arriving at the new site, it’s freshly matted, appearing nice and smooth. Everything is centred around the cellar, dug by a rathole company beforehand. It’s a large culvert placed vertically in the ground with the main hole, rat hole and mouse hole drilling in a specific pattern. Placement of the rig is precise, aligned to a position surveyed long before. The rig must be level as well. Some rigs have self-levelling jacks built into them, useful if the ground is soft and the rig must be straightened out. In this case, the shacks are already in place, prior to the rig arriving. The last major component of the rig to leave the old lease is also the first needed on the new one. The substructure is positioned over the cellar and main hole precisely. Its matting, with holes to drill through, must be put into place over the cellar. Other major components include the derrick and drawworks. On a jackknife rig, the derrick comes off with gin pole trucks, whereas a telescoping double will have the derrick remain on the drawworks skid. There’s also the watertank/doghouse, combination building which houses the generator and hydraulics, pumphouse, catwalk and Kelly, and typically five pipe tubs. A shale bin, centrifuge, pre-mix tank, cement bin and five shacks make up the remainder of a typical rig in use in southeast Saskatchewan. Once the substructure is down, the derrick is put on, the A-legs for the derrick are raised, and the derrick is positioned. Next are the mud tank, water tank, pump, combination building and catwalk. Dennis explained that in good conditions, multiple buildings can be done at the same time. “We move over 1,000 rigs a year. We kind of know where everything goes,” he said. “Their toolpush knows where it goes. He spots it within inches, and that’s where we put it.” Tough business

The business of rig moving is a tough one, in more ways than one. “In 1985, we moved 103 rigs with 20 trucks. In 1986, we moved one rig four times,” Dennis said. “I’ve moved rigs as far north as Fort Nelson, B.C., and as far south as Oklahoma City,” he said. “We move them all over, but now it’s so busy, we stick close to home. When we’re really slow, I’ll work wherever I have to to keep my men busy. “The next days oﬀ we’ll have is when it rains or Dec. 24. We don’t work Dec. 24, 25 or 26, or Jan. 1. Those are the only four days we don’t work.” The Fast Trucking group of companies includes Sam’s Trucking of Estevan, another rig mover purchased several years ago, as well as Fontana’s Trucking. The companies work interchangeably. Between Fast, Sam’s and Fontana’s, there are roughly 200 people working in rig moving, with 135 trucks and 220 trailers. The company started in 1957 with one winch truck. Tony Day would “suck on” a water tank onto his 1954 Chev after the move was done, and haul water for the rig. “We used to get $20 a day, working 24 hours a day,” Dennis said of his father’s experiences. As for that ’54 Chev? They’ve still got it. “We could sell our businesses tomorrow. I get calls weekly,” he said. It’s not going to happen any time soon, he explained, noting, “I’m really proud of all my guys and how hard they work. We have a lot of dedicated employees and loyal customers.” The company is a family business, but not just for the Day family. “This kid, Josh North, driving this truck? His grandfather worked for us. His dad worked for us, and now he’s working for us,” Dennis said. ɸ Page C4

As the rig comes apart (top), components are moved to the road for transport to the new lease.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Operations team keeps things running

A Fast Trucking worker, right, moves a winch line. Note the massive tires of the bed truck.

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ɺ Page C3 Operations team Larry Day, Dennis’s brother, is the operations manager. His life is punctuated by the constantly ringing phone, his tracking spreadsheet, and a map on the wall with little ﬂags pinned on it for each and every rig. The phone may ring 400 to 500 times a day. Larry, like his brother, started swamping, then driving truck. He did that for close to 10 years. He’s been working in the oﬃce since 1998. It’s impossible to work in this business if you are not an early riser. Typically, morning rig moves start at 7 o’clock, in the summer, 8 o’clock. in the winter, which means the trucks have to get to the lease before then. That in turn means the workers have to be at the shop with plenty of time to get everything lined up and ready to go with time to spare. A Ceylon area move, at the outer edge of their normal operating area, would see the workers at the shop by 4 a.m. Since Larry’s job is to co-ordinate all that, he’s at work by 3:30 a.m. He starts the day at his parents’ kitchen table, where he can get some work done without too much interruption. His mother, Vi, is still highly involved in operations, and has been from the get-go, long before there were

the conveniences of modern communications. She still handles licensing and annual permits. Tony is always around the shop, and is involved in decision making. “We do it at the family table, like we always have,” Larry said. Someone always stays with the phone. “If I’m gone somewhere, Vi tries not to go,” Larry said. Larry is assisted by the other members of his operations team, Darwin Duncombe and Laurie Connelly. They, too, are very early risers. “It used to be me and Vi who did all the phones,” Larry said. Now Duncombe and Connelly step in as well. Dennis stressed the important of family’s involvement. “We’ve answered the phone ourselves all the time. We do not have an answering service.” Scheduling “Usually the rigs will phone in and book trucks three days to a week in advance,” Larry said. They will phone the rig the day before to see if they are going to be ready for the next day. If so, they make it onto the plan. “They may say, ‘We’ll be ready Tuesday or Wednesday. We’ll phone them Monday or Sunday morning and see when they’re going to be ready,” ɸ Page C5

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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Top: A rig comes together near Stoughton. Bottom, "Miss Kitty" works its way out of a soft spot.

LATH: full 3/8” thick, 48”, 36” & 24” length, who assists her mother Vi on days oﬀ and handles a lot of the family obligations. Larry’s wife Lori is also involved with the administrative duties, as was Dennis’ wife, Carmen. She helped with books in earlier years and now works full-time is a registered nurse for home care. ɸ Page C6

ɺ Page C4 The plan was done on paper for years, but more recently goes onto a spreadsheet. Rig moves are assigned in something of a ﬁrst in, ﬁrst out order, with some variations. If two rigs are nearby, it may make more sense to move them one after another on the same day than to jump all over the place. An added challenge has been the weather. “This year, there’s so many roads closed,” Larry said. “We had to make extra miles because of the

closed roads. RMs still have their road bans. It’s also important to be paid. “Every truck makes out its own bill and has its own rate,” Larry said. “Each driver will make his bill and give it to the truck push. He’ll total it up and submit it.” In cases where they bid the work, the assumption is good, hard, dry conditions. Variations from that mean higher cost. Crews and drivers need to be assigned for each move. A truck push may end up with large

variations in his crew, depending on what is needed for that move. Connelly said the type of rig determines who gets sent out. For instance, a jackknife rig like Big Sky 37 requires two gin pole trucks to take the derrick oﬀ. “Every day’s a little diﬀerent. It’s not always the same crew with the same truck push,” he said. Other Day family members involved include oldest sister Linda Apperley, who does all the invoicing, and second child, Teresa Kyle,

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011 Truck push Rick Renwick directs a bed truck.

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recently acquired. In all, they employ over 260 people. There are also two junior oil companies – a numbered company owned by Tony and Vi, and Runcible Oil Ltd., which is owned by Dennis. Perspective Tony Day stepped into the oﬃce for a few minutes to speak with this reporter who has been tagging along all day. Now 79, he was 22-years-old when he started the business in 1957. He ﬁrst worked on drilling rigs in 1952. “I came from out west. They were drilling at Shaunavon and Gull Lake quite a few years before they drilled here,” he said. “We liked farming and ranching, but things were slow in ’52. There was foot and mouth disease in cattle, and prices were down. I thought I would work a year or two and go back to the farm.” “We still farm,” Dennis said, noting they have 3,500 acres and 150 head of cattle. Talking about the aforementioned ’54 Chevy, Tony said, “You’d be surprised what we did with those little trucks. We hauled the crown of a triple derrick on it. “There were lots of guys doing what I did. I stayed on one rig for a while until I got more equipment. ɸ Page C7

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Perseverance in early years

A derrick and drawworks skid is unloaded at a lease near Stoughton.

The Day clan, of Carnduff: Back row, from left Kiana Apperley, Lexi Day, Julia Day, Lucas Day, Nathan Day, Levi Day, Emily Day, Harly Day. Front, from left: Larry Day, Lori Day, Vi Day, Tony Day, Dennis Day, Rachelle Apperley. Missing are Linda Apperley, Ross Apperley, Teresa Kyle, Mitch Kyle and Cheryl Kyle.

ɺ Page C6 “My wife drove winch truck for me. Water truck, too. She did all the oﬃce work, and answered the phones.” Asked about how his children became involved, Tony said he started them young. “Go do this, go do that. They got their licence, then came and swamped, and then drove big truck. “If everything was good, the roads were good, and it was not muddy on the lease, it used to take use 12 hours,” he said of the time to perform a rig move. “Many days on a long move, we didn’t have enough trucks, so we’d have to make several trips. I’d rig up the last load and it would be midnight before I got home,” Tony said. Attitudes towards the rig haulers have changed, he noted. “One big change is the oil companies are good to get along with. We used to be treated like dogs.” Dennis noted it has been a gradual change, but has been more noticeable over the last 10 years. Companies are a lot more patient now, whereas “If they had to wait 10 minutes to move a building, they’d lose it,” he said. A lot of competitors have come and gone over they years. “About every three years, someone shows

up, and they’re gone,” Dennis said. “It’s been good for 20 years,” Tony said. Of those, he characterized 11 as average years, three as bad years, and six as really busy years. “When it slows down, the oil companies get the drilling contractors to bill them for the money, and the drilling contractor won’t pay you,” Tony recalled. He has had quite a few companies go belly up and leave them hanging. During really tough times, he said, “We’d haul hay or any other loads we could ﬁnd.” “In 57 years, Tony’s never asked someone to do something he wouldn’t do himself,” Dennis said. “We’ve always worked hard and answered our own phones.” As if to punctuate the point, Dennis not-

ed earlier in the day he wanted to spend some time with his oldest son in celebration of his 15th birthday. His idea of fun? Dad driving truck, and his son swamping for him.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

A family affair working and moving rigs Indeed, his job is essentially directing traﬃc, frequently talking on the radio that is clipped to his left shoulder. “I tell everyone what to take out, and who hauls what. I co-ordinate who picks up what,” said Kelly. “It’s pretty easy when all the boys work as a team,” he said of his crew. “Most of the guys, they know their place.” It’s common to have slightly diﬀerent crews assigned each day. “I get a menagerie of trucks,” he said, pointing out two subcontractors helping them out

that day. By 1:30 p.m., they had wrapped up not one, but two moves that day. “It’s a good company to work for, and good guys to work with,” Kelly said. The best part of the job for him is working with the people. “If you can joke around and have fun during the day, it makes it a little better,” he said. The biggest challenge is soft leases, he said. And in winter, it’s not bad unless someone slids in the ditch. “At 40 below with a wind, it’s a bit ugly,” he said.

Fast Trucking general manager Dennis Day, left, and truck push Kelly Krupka have worked together a long time. Krupka has been with the company for 26 years.

Carnduff – Family ties run deep in the oilpatch, as evidenced by the Krupka family. Kelly Krupka is a truck push with Fast Trucking services of Carnduff, and has worked for the company for 26 years. Prior to that he worked with L & C Trucking. He was born in Bienfait, grew up in Regina, and then came back to Estevan where he found he was “too smart for school.” After four years of house painting, he went to work with L & C Trucking for five years. L & C and Fast Trucking were helping each other out quite a bit at the time, and Tony Day, president of Fast, offered Krupka a job when a position opened up. He’s been with them ever since. Fast forward to 2011. Two of Krupka’s three boys, Jesse and Dillon, had worked with Fast Trucking at one time, but now work for Estevan-based Red Dog Drilling. “They were swamping with us for a while,” Kelly said. “Guys on the rigs, if they (see guys who) look like good workers, they hire them away from you. “ Jesse is now tool push (rig manager) on Red Dog 2, while Dillon is a derrickhand with Red Dog 3. Jesse has been working on the rigs for a little over a decade, while Dillon has been on them for a little under a decade. (The third son, Shilo, is a welder in Ontario.) In early August, there was a family day of sorts. The two sons happened to be working on the same rig, when their father looked after moving it. Being a truck push means having a constant sense of awareness of your surroundings. To a newcomer, it can be intimidating, but Kelly said it’s not so confusing, because he knows where they are all going.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Boyd's still growing

Tyler Boyd’s company, Boyd Excavating, is roughly Àve times larger than it was the last time Pipeline News spoke to him two years ago.

Thank You John Kmita Ltd.

Moosomin – When Pipeline News last visited Tyler Boyd of Moosomin’s Boyd Excavating Ltd. during the summer of 2009, the company had recently grown to 17 employees, four excavators, ﬁve trucks, four gravel trailers and a lowboy, dozer and packer. Now, two years later, the company is roughly ﬁve times that size. A Regina location has been set up. Okay, it’s actually Pilot Butte, but it’s close to Regina. “All our work is in Regina,” Boyd said. He bought out a

company in April 2010 that had great guys that came with it, and had great potential. That one excavator, two trucks and a Bobcat have grown to nine trucks and 16 excavators (including two mini excavators). “I’ve got all Deere, and very proud of it, too,” he said. “We run more or less all John Deere as our main supplier for both locations,” he said. “We do everything from a bit of facility work to residential and commercial work, as well

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as deep services such as 18-inch pipe, four metres deep. “We do sand and gravel and have hydrovac trucks based there as well. We do snow removal in the winter.” The company added one hydrovac in the spring of 2010. “Soon after that we set up a steamer truck. Last fall we purchased two more hydrovac trucks,” he said. All three are booked at a major facility, but one was working in the oilpatch during the time of the interview on Aug. 12. New yard in heart of patch “Oilpatch demand is pretty good,” Boyd said. “We’ve got a yard in Stoughton and we will be setting up vac trucks there,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes. We’ll start with hydrovac. We plan to add more units as demand increases and we get more known. We have experienced hydrovac operators.” ɸ Page C11

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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Regina location added, Stoughton next Éş Page C10 Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential for dirt work based out of Stoughton in the future. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got a fair bit of work in Swift Current as well. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m heading to Leader on Saturday to look at more work. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do a fair bit of environmental work out of Regina such as gas stations,â&#x20AC;? Boyd said. They recently did a highway dig-up. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do a lot of trucking. I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen my trucks for quite a while. Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been hauling contaminant,â&#x20AC;? he said, noting the trucking ďŹ&#x201A;eet has been working on lease cleanups near Swift Current. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do dig-ups of contaminated soil and trenching for rigs. We do lots of lease cleanup,â&#x20AC;? Boyd said. Last fall they were busy in the Pipestone area, south of Moosomin. The company also supplies pipelines with sand and gravel, as well as hydrovac service, steaming and washing of equipment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got some awesome, awesome guys. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had good luck hiring younger guys. Without a question, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got the youngest construction company of anywhere Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard of. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m proud of.â&#x20AC;? Boyd is 23-years-old. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be the guys that come in in the middle of the night, and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t complain, but work,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;They go steady and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re dependable,â&#x20AC;? Boyd said of his staďŹ&#x20AC;. Tim Skulmoski is his right-hand man, looking after Moosomin and then some. He co-ordinates all the men and helps out in Regina as well. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our stance on safety is itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of everything we do, in the shop, or on a job for TransCanada.â&#x20AC;? The company is COR-certiďŹ ed and part of ISN Networld. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got two full-time, trained safety professionals. It cost us a lot of money and took a lot of time, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best thing weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve done. Like it or not, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part of your life. This is construction. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the way it is. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Safety, quality, schedule, price weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve taken that to heart,â&#x20AC;? Boyd said.

Cordell Janssen

The company is running with 75 employees now, but thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s down from 100 in June. Boyd said he has been â&#x20AC;&#x153;putting up with a lot less.â&#x20AC;? Boydâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s younger brother, Tim, had bought out his drain cleaning service, Tylerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earlier venture. That has since been shut down, and Tim now works with his brother full-time. Tyler describes the 18-year-old Tim as an â&#x20AC;&#x153;incredible hoe operator.â&#x20AC;? Both their parents work full-time with the ďŹ rm. Lorraine, the mother, oversees the paperwork aspect. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like our CFO,â&#x20AC;? Tyler said. Their father, Erwin, also helps out. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do whatever needs doing. Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the same as I am,â&#x20AC;? Tyler said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He ďŹ lls in the gaps, and makes sure everything runs smoother. Tylerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, Amanda, does a good portion of the invoicing. After they had their ďŹ rst child, Charlie, â&#x20AC;&#x153;She was back to work within a week of having him. Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an incredible woman,â&#x20AC;? he said. The family focus on success is deeply ingrained. â&#x20AC;&#x153;She brought an awesome lunch for 17 clients on our 3rd anniversary,â&#x20AC;? Tyler said. Uncles and cousins also work for the ďŹ rm. Tyler and Amanda Boyd recently moved back to Moosomin after setting up the Regina operation. PCS Rocanville is a major client for the ďŹ rm. Boyd Excavating and Tyler Boyd have been nominated for the 2010 Saskatchewan ABEX Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, the Canada Young Entrepreneur awards, and was a ďŹ nalist for the Paragon Awards in Regina for Young Entrepreneur of

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the Year. He said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really like to stay on top of my projects and stats. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very hands on. I was running an excavator Tuesday. Last summer I ran hydrovac for a week. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You will not see me in a shirt and tie in the ofďŹ ce. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m pretty mobile. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got an iPad and a laptop in my truck. We text hundreds of times throughout the day.â&#x20AC;? Tyler carries two cell phones at all times, just in case one should fail. Asked whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s next? Boyd responded, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in the process of purchasing another company or two.â&#x20AC;? Both are in the same line of work.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Shifting Gears

One Woman’s Perspective on Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Land Locations By Nadine Elson

I leaned on the railing and looked out over the water. The wind was brisk and pleasantly cool after the hot day, and it moved the hair off my dusty face. Looking past the anchor to the water, I noticed the wind had created whitecaps on the waves. It was the last hours of the day, and the settling sun had cast a rosy glow that was reflected in the water. I gazed skyward. The sunset was spectacular, a visual feast. Birds circled overhead, a few dived to the water. A cloud of fish flies hovered nearby, annoying but harmless. The sound of the waves lapping at the water’s edge was rhythmic and soothing. A mother duck quacked for her brood, and the ducklings fought the waves to follow her lead through the water. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. Forgetting for a moment my location, I expected the sharp smell of sea water. Instead I got a strong whiff of … compost? My eyes flew open. Not compost I realized, but wet hay. A horn blared and I saw the line was moving. I was not in a boat but in a traffic line in the picturesque lake district of southern Saskatchewan. I was waiting to cross the new lake that Mother Nature had created from rains and runoff between Midale and Macoun. The water had crossed over Highway 39 between the two communities, putting transportation on that major traffic corridor at risk. I checked to make sure the straps holding the oilfield anchor in the truck were secure, and left the truck railing to climb into the driver’s seat to follow the vehicle in front. Slowly we, and the

C13

Anchors aweigh, my friends, I’ll see you another day vehicles behind, drove down the highway for the better part of two kilometres in water that was a foot deep or more in many places. It was quite surreal. On the one hand, I knew that I was on a highway with ﬁrm footing underneath. And yet, through the deepest parts, when I couldn’t see the road except for the faint yellow line showing at the bottom of the dark water and the weeds growing at the edge of the shoulders poking through the water, I was apprehensive. It required trust that the road would in fact be there, and trust that the vehicle in front was actually still on the road and not heading into a deep ditch! My trust issues were evidently shared by the late comedian and writer W.C. Fields, who said, “You can't trust water. Even a straight stick turns crooked in it.” I travelled Highway 39 a dozen or more times between Midale and Macoun in the six weeks it was submerged. It provided time for contemplation about trust. I reﬂected on the trust I have in the organizations and the people I work for and with. I trust that the loader operator loading my truck knows

his equipment and is skilled at moving large loads. I trust that the rig manager giving me backing up directions will not let me hit the rig. I trust that the boss will keep our trucks and trailers well maintained. My trust has not been unfounded thus far. A few days ago, I was at the dock. I looked at the anchor. There were neither waves lapping nor birds swimming. I wasn’t at the beach; I was at Weatherford Completions. My truck was backed right up to the dock used for unloading tools, including oilﬁeld anchors. In the back of the truck, I readied the sling I trusted to help me move the heavy tool. “Anchors aweigh!” I hollered and heaved the anchor on the dock. Trust me, I like the sling! Nadine lives in Estevan with her husband and family, and works as a hot shot driver in the oil patch regularly delivering goods in and around Estevan and Shaunavon, and Sinclair and Waskada, Manitoba. Her mission, beyond delivering the goods quickly, is to have every interaction be a positive one. She can be reached at missiondriver@hotmail.ca

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C14

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Redvers Generators now a full-time affair Redvers – With the business growing, it was time to get serious about it.

Redvers Generators is owned and operated by Darwin Fedorowich, Grant Toms and Chad

Frecon. Toms and Frecon both farm, while Fedorowich works with the company full time.

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When he’s not working with generators, Darwin Fedorowich likes to tinker with antiques, like this old gas tractor.

“When we started six years ago with two units, it wasn’t hard for three people to look after two units,” said Fedorowich. Things have since picked up. “In a year and a half, we went from two to four to ten. I made the decision to quit my job at NAL Nottingham,” he said. That happened this past spring. They moved into a shop in the southeast corner of Redvers in May. Fedorowich has 13 years experience in gas plants, and he hopes to pick up some maintenance work with vapour recovery units. He also works on pumps, compressors, and reciprocating compressors as part of a diversification effort for the company. “I also fix competitors’ generators as well,

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plus some oil companies have their own units I repair,” Fedorowich said. “We also provide maintenance for centrifugal pumps, compressors and vapour recovery units. The ﬂeet of ten generators will soon be 11. That ﬂeet is also being updated. The generators are trailer mounted, with fuel tanks that have integral secondary containment. The sizes range from 100 kilowatts to 175 kilowatts. “We don’t have smaller ones,” Fedorowich said. “We decided to shy away from them.” All Redvers Generators’ units have Cummins diesel engines. Two are sound-attenuated units. “They run quiet when the doors are all shut. We had one close to a farmyard, and they wanted it quiet,” he said. “The reliability of those engines is really good, and parts are easily ac-

cessible.” Most of his engines are purchased from Cummins’ Regina dealer. They used to buy prepackaged units, but now Fedorowich is looking to assemble them himself. There are no plans to operate solution gasﬁred generators, as they haven’t had any demand for them. “Diesel-ﬁre is more consistent, I think,” he said. “You don’t get the power out of propane.” So far, their generators have only been used for powering pumpjacks. However, they are not limited to that. “They are reconnectable generators. I can go from 480 volt three phase to 110/220 volt,” he said. Fedorowich is a heavy duty mechanic by trade, and has been a journeyman since 1986. He used to work as a service manager for Prosper Tractor Ltd., the local John Deere dealer at the time. ɸ Page C15

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

C15

Going hard A derrick can be seen just west of Arcola. Photo by Brian Zinchuk

Sales and Service

Reliable Wireless Communication That Goes The Distance Darwin Fedorowich pulls an air Àlter from one of Redvers Generators’ units.

ɺ Page C14 Toms handles a lot of the moving of units, and public relations. “He’s good at it,” Fedorowich said. Frecon assists in the shop and with ﬁeld work. “We don’t charge a pickup or delivery fee within 150 kilometres of Redvers,” Fedorowich said. Most of their units have been used along Highway 13, from Redvers to Griﬃn. “I’ve got one service truck fully equipped,” he said. That includes a load bank tester that is “almost like a giant toaster heating element.” It’s purpose is to test generators after servicing to ensure it works under load. Fedorowich likes to think they have the small-town touch. “The fellows that deliver the generators and services it are also the president and PR person.”

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C16

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

New drilling company coming out of the gates Carnduﬀ – Retirement didn’t last long for Bob Betts. In fact, there’s now a company with his name on it. Betts had been the operations manager for Carnduﬀ-based Totem Drilling before it was bought out by CanElson Drilling in the summer of 2010. CanElson wanted

him to stay on and work in North Dakota, but he decided to leave. Betts spent a few months oﬀ. “It’s kind of boring to be retired. It was okay for a couple months,” the 49-year-old told Pipeline News. So Betts asked his wife, Ann, who ran the oﬃce for Totem Drilling, if they should take

another go at it. “There’s six of us in the company,” Betts said of the new company’s ownership. The Thorogood family from Cochrane, Alberta, was the family behind Totem Building Supplies before it sold to Rona. It is the major backer, under the aegis of the Totem Group.

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These are the same people who were a large part of the ownership of Totem Drilling. While Betts is the general manager, Ryan Thorogood is the president. It’s no coincidence the colour on Betts’ business card is the same orange as Totem Building Supplies’ logo and the former Totem Drilling rigs. “I went back to them to see if they were interested in getting into a drilling project,” he said. Now the new company, known as Betts Drilling Ltd., is building not one, but two rigs. A little different The first rig is scheduled to be available Oct. 15, while the second is planned for Nov. 15. Both are already contracted out to different junior producers operating in southeast Saskatchewan. This time around, they are doing a few things differently in the rig design compared to

JACK!

IT’S ABOUT TIME

Bob Betts is at it again, Àring up another drilling company based in Carnduff.

the predecessor company Totem’s rigs. The substructure and derrick will be API certiﬁed to 4,000 metres. Both of those components are being built at Do-All Metal Fabricating’s new Nisku, Alberta, facility. “Not many rigs around have API-rated sub and derrick,” Betts explained. “Because of the 4,000 metre rating, we’re targeting the deeper Bakken plays. Our customers seem to want to

extend their legs longer and longer.” The rest of the rig is being built at Do-All’s Glenburn, North Dakota and Estevan facilities. The mud pump will be a 1,000 horsepower unit, powered by a Detroit Diesel 2,000 series engine, rated at 1005 horsepower. There will be a one-speed 1,000 horsepower gearbox. The package will be coming from Waterous Power Systems in Calgary. ɸ Page C17

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Sometimes you have to do some serious reaching to grind and weld all the valves on the catwalk.

C17

The hydraulic catwalk for Betts Rig 1 is under construction in Estevan.

Totem group places its bets on Betts ɺ Page C16 Some companies with operations in the area are incorporating two mud pumps in their new rig designs, but Betts said they are going with one. “Our area is so close, we always have a back-up pump. If something happens, we can take that one out. “If a customer requests it, we would definitely look at a second pump for the rig.” Each rig will have a single generator operating at 450 kilowatts. The usual for similar rigs has been 350 kilowatts. The gen set will have a Cummins engine powering it. The drawworks will feature a Cummins 760 horsepower engine. The gen set and drawworks are both coming from Southern Industrial in Weyburn. A fully hydraulic catwalk will be standard. One thing that Totem had done differently compared to its competition was the implementation of iron roughnecks – a robotic system of making and braking connections as opposed to using human roughnecks with tongs. However, that proved to be a little too different for the marketplace. “We had iron

roughnecks with Totem. We’re going to do something different,” he said. “The industry just hasn’t caught up to that concept, and it seems to be a tough sell.” He added “Some of the guys prefer to run stuff. “I think I was one step ahead for our area to make it work.” All of the controls will be wireless, through a system called rigcontrolled modular, or RCM. It will still have a normal braking handle, but there will be no air line to the control panel. “We’re still in the developmental stage,” Betts said. Crewing up “We’ve got just about enough people to crew up both rigs already,” Betts said. “Most were ex-Totem employees who wanted to come work for us. We’re more [like] family.” They will start with three crews of five with each rig, running eight hour shifts. Then they will hire a swing crew for each rig, bringing the total to 22 people per rig. Mike Picard is slated to be the rig manager, or toolpush, for Rig 1. Brent Ruthven is headed for Rig 2. Trent Heiser, former heavy-duty mechanic with Totem, will

also be joining them. Betts’ younger brothers Bill and Jim will be drilling on Rig 1. Ann Betts will again be office manager. The former Totem shop on the north side of Carnduff is now owned by The Competition, part of the Fast Trucking group of companies. “We’re building a shop and office east of Carnduff,” Betts said. They have 20 acres to build on. The company has already started its Certificate of Recognition (COR) process, and has its job safety analysis in place. They are working on their health and safety manuals. “We’ve applied for membership in the CAODC,” Betts said, re-

ferring to the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors. The area of operations planned for

includes southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba. “If things go well, our business plan is to

build up to four rigs. I’m sure we’d stop at four this time and stay a small company,” Betts said in conclusion.

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C18

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Solid U of S education provides grounding for inductee Doug Annable, a native of Saskatoon, was inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame during the Saskatchewan Oil and

Gas Show in Weyburn on June 1. Here is his biography, as presented during the induction ceremony: Doug Annable was born and raised in Sas-

katoon where he obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan.

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Since graduation in 1969, he has worked for both operating and engineering companies in the oil and gas industry, and has been involved with the design and construction of many of the major oil and gas production and processing facilities in Canada. Annable began his career as an engineer with British American as it was known at the time. After a brief stint as an engineer with the Alberta government, he seized an opportunity to move into a management role with Fish Engineering Ltd. By the 1980s, he had risen to become president and chairman of the board of that company. Annable has also held senior roles at SNC Inc., Canuck Engineering and AMEC before retiring in 2006 as president of the Energy & Mining Division of AMEC, a large global engineering, procurement and construction management company. Annable is currently president of C D Consulting, providing management consulting services to the oil and gas industry. Throughout his career Annable supported and participated in many industry and community organizations, including the United Way, Science Alberta Founda-

Doug Annable, right, is congratulated by Premier Brad Wall as he is inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum of Fame.

tion, Keyano College Foundation, University of Saskatchewan Engineering Advancement Trust Program, University of Calgary Engineering Associates Program, SAIT Control Engineering Technology Centre, the Energy Council of Canada, the Oilmen’s Association, the Canadian Gas Processors Suppliers’ Association, the Consulting Engineers of Alberta and the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering. Annable credits his

success with the solid education he received at the U of S which he says made him well grounded in the practical aspects of engineering and business. He notes that it is often said in Calgary that the best engineers come from Saskatchewan. Doug and his wife Charlotte have two daughters, two sons-inlaw and three grandchildren. They enjoy travelling, with favourite destinations including California, Italy, the UK and New Zealand.

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

C19

Kamsack man headed two energy companies Kamsackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Michael ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; was inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame during the Sas-

katchewan Oil and Gas Show in Weyburn on June 1. Here is his biography, as presented during the induction ceremony:

Michael ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; describes himself as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;creature of excessesâ&#x20AC;?, the sort of person who focuses on one thing at a

Former Imperial Oil president inducted into Hall of Fame Timothy Hearn of Regina was the board of directors of the Royal inducted into the Saskatchewan Petro- Bank of Canada and Viterra Inc., leum Industry Hall of and a past member Fame during the Sasof the Canadian katchewan Oil and Council of Chief Gas Show in WeyExecutives. He burn on June 1. Here co-chairs a multiis his biography, as year, fund-raising presented during the campaign for the induction ceremony: University of AlTimothy Hearn berta and chairs the was born in Regina, Tyndale University Saskatchewan and fund-raising camis a graduate of the paign. University of ManiFor a numtoba. ber of years, Hearn Tim Hearn In 1967, he joined has served on several Imperial Oil as a marketing rep- community boards and committees. resentative and held progressively He is the chair of the board of the more responsible positions in mar- Calgary Homeless Foundation. In keting, reďŹ ning, and systems and addition, Hearn is chair of the advicomputer services. In 2002, he as- sory board of the new Public Policy sumed the position of president of School and a member of the Deanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Imperial Oil Limited and shortly Medical School Advisory Boards, thereafter he was appointed chair- both at the University of Calgary. man, president and chief executive Most recently, he was appointed oďŹ&#x192;cer. to Advisory Committee of CanadaHearn retired as chairman and US-Mexico Commission for EnviCEO of Imperial Oil Limited in ronmental Co-operation. 2008. Tim Hearn and his wife Susan Hearn is immediate past chair- have been married 40 years. They man of the board of directors of the have two daughters, one son and C.D. Howe Institute, a member of four grandchildren.

time to the exclusion of everything else. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a pattern we see over and over as we look over the career of a man who has achieved success in many areas. ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; was born in Kamsack, Saskatchewan in 1936. He earned the Governor Generalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Medal at Kamsack Collegiate in 1955 before going on to earn a full scholarship at Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University in Kingston, Ontario. At Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; continued his record of academic excellence, earning a number of scholarships before graduating with a B.Sc. in geological engineering in 1959. Through the 1960s, ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; worked as a geologist for a number of companies including California Standard, Pinnacle Petroleum and Ulster Petroleums. In the 1970s, he worked as an independent geologist in Alberta before forming Strom Resources in 1979. ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; ultimately sold Strom to PennWest and headed west to work once again as an independent geologist in British Columbia. In 1987, ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; and his son Bruce founded Pacalta Resources which developed successful oil and gas operations in Canada, Ecuador,

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Michael Chernoff beams as he is inducted into the Saskatchewan Petroleum Industry Hall of Fame.

Columbia, Guatemala and the U.S. Pacalta was sold to Alberta Energy Company in 1999. In the community, ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; is proud that his family provides scholarships for approximately 70 students each year. The scholarships are oďŹ&#x20AC;ered at Kamsack and Notre Dame high schools, several trade schools, the University of British Columbia, University of Saskatchewan, Brandon University and Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University. As well, Mike and his son Bruce helped jumpstart the construction of the chemistry building, named ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; Hall, at Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University at Kingston. The Queenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s University website states, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Established largely through the eďŹ&#x20AC;orts of the ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; family, this $57 million, 12,000 square-metre, ďŹ ve-ďŹ&#x201A;oor state-of-the-art facility,

housing labs, classrooms and oďŹ&#x192;ces, is the home of the Department of Chemistry.â&#x20AC;? ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great passion is curling. In 1959, he skipped the runner-up rink to represent Ontario at the Brier in Quebec City. He served as third to Ron Northcottâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alberta Brier team at Charlottetown in 1964. He was also third on Ed Lukowichâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alberta Brier team that became Brier champions in Vancouver in 1978 and was runnerup at Sudbury in 1983. Mike ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; and his wife Dorine have been together 50 years. They have a son and a daughter, both of whom have given them grandchildren. Asked to describe the focus of his life today, ChernoďŹ&#x20AC; said heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;just enjoying watching the grandchildren grow up.â&#x20AC;?

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Legacy production, earnings up despite severe weather in second quarter of 2011 (Nickleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Daily Oil Bulletin) Legacy Oil + Gas Inc. spent less than budgeted in the second quarter due to severe weather, a period in which the company recorded signiďŹ cantly higher funds ďŹ&#x201A;ow, net income and production compared to the same period of 2010. Production of 10,202 boepd was up 78 per cent year-over-year, despite severe weather conditions caused by an extended and pervasive spring breakup and associated ďŹ&#x201A;ooding, which restricted Legacyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to produce wells, as well as severely restricted

the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to drill new wells to oďŹ&#x20AC;set production declines. In addition, the Quirk Creek gas plant was shut in for a turnaround for approximately half the quarter, which shut in almost 2,000 boepd of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Turner Valley production. Funds generated by operations in the second quarter of $40.5 million was were 91 per cent yearover-year, while net earnings climbed 514 per cent to $6.89 million, reversing a net loss the previous year. At Bottineau County, North Dakota, three of

the ďŹ ve wells drilled and completed in late 2010 and early 2011 are on production with an average 60-day initial production rate of 100 boepd, per well. These wells have conďŹ rmed the presence of an emerging light oil resource play in the SpearďŹ sh formation and proven the productive potential of a large portion of Legacyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bottineau County acreage. The junior increased undeveloped land holdings year-over-year from 351,917 net acres to 484,104 net acres. É¸ Page C21

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Specializing in well site and pipeline surveys Yorkton 306.783.4100

Swift Current 306.773.7733

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JUSTIN WAPPEL - Division Manager 401 Hwy. #4 S. Biggar, Saskatchewan PO Box 879 S0K 0M0 Ph (306) 948-5262 Fax (306) 948-5263 Cell (306) 441-4402 Toll Free 1-800-746-6646 Email: jwappel@envirotank.com www.envirotank.com

â&#x20AC;˘ Life Insurance â&#x20AC;˘ Disability Insurance â&#x20AC;˘ Critical Illness Insurance â&#x20AC;˘ Employee BeneĂ&#x20AC;t Plans Tel: (306) 359-2015 â&#x20AC;˘ Fax: (306) 359-3034 E-mail: dwight@dgbcanada.ca Toll Free: 1-855-359-2015 â&#x20AC;˘ Cellular: (306) 421-1935

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Bus: (306) 634-8084 Cell: (306) 577-8833 Fax: (306) 453-6075 ttorq@hotmail.com

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

C21

Career Opportunities Higher costs ɺ Page C20

SMITH Services A Schlumberger Company

Our Fishing and Remedial Team is currently looking for a

Fishing Tool Supervisor Sr. to join our team in Lloydminster, AB.

Primary job duties will include, but are not limited to:

• Highly specialized position skilled in the rigging-up, running tools in and out of the hole and the related procedures associated with retrieval of tools, drill string, and equipment in the well bore • Supervises the tool preparation activities and operation of all ﬁshing equipment • Solicits ﬁshing and rental work • Requires comprehensive understanding of down-hole environment in open-hole and cased hole situations • Work with operations when not on jobs to keep up with new procedures, paperwork, equipment, and price books • May provide technical support to other departments to share experience and subject matter knowledge base; training and development, research and engineering

Qualiﬁcations:

High School Diploma or educational equivalent 5 years experience in tool fishing 7 years working experience Knowledge of fishing tool applications required Must be exceptionally competent in drilling and fishing operations Must have excellent communication skills and abide by all safety requirements Excellent leadership, decision making and customer relation skills are required

Interested applicants may submit a resume to: calgaryresume@smith.com quoting reference number CAN-11-SVS-078. We wish to thank all applicants for their interest in this position, however, only those candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

The company spent $40.1 million in the quarter, which was below budget due to the severe weather. Key projects funded in the quarter included the first southern Alberta Bakken well, seven (4.9 net) wells in southeast Saskatchewan, road construction at Maxhamish, facility work at Turner Valley, Taylorton and Pierson, as well as land and seismic acquisitions. Legacy participated in the drilling of nine (5.9 net) wells targeting light oil with a 100 per cent success rate. All five of the previously drilled Spearfish horizontal wells in Bottineau County have been multistage fracture stimulated. Three of the wells have been on production for 60 days, one well was waiting on a service rig and the final well had a

OVER 50 YEARS STRONG IN OILFIELD CONSTRUCTION A R N E T T & B U R G E S S Oilfield Oilf O Oi lfie lf ie ld Construction ield C on onst st ruct stru ru ctio ct ion io n Limited Limi Li mi ted mite te d

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mechanical failure of the liner system and will be re-drilled later this year, as it is located immediately adjacent to the three producing wells. Results are preliminary but indicate an average 30-day initial production rate of 95 boepd per well. However, production rates have been constrained by artificial lift capability and efforts are ongoing to further optimize production as evidenced by the average 60-day initial production rate of 100 boepd per well. These wells have confirmed the presence of an emerging light oil resource play in the Spearfish and proven the productive potential of a large portion of Legacy’s Bottineau County acreage position of 46,042

net undeveloped acres. Legacy will continue to produce these wells to confirm this positive initial result and is working on permitting a significant development drilling program for the second half of 2011 and into 2012, which will complement the Spearfish development program at Pierson, Manitoba, where completion operations started in early July, with eight Spearfish horizontal wells completed to date. Operations staff continue to work to restart a number of shut-in wells but progress has been slowed by the damage sustained to the transportation infrastructure in southern Manitoba from the flooding in the last number of months.

Employment and Investment Opportunity

OILFIELD PROFESSIONAL A local business is seeking an entrepreneurial-minded, self-motivated individual to manage all aspects of the business operations. Company and contacts are well established and has been in business for 20 years. The company offers a dynamic work environment including a competitive salary with investment opportunities. BeneÀts included.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to: - Business growth in the oil patch - Promotion and distribution of oil Àeld products - Management of a small team of employees

QualiÀcations of the right individual: - Extensive knowledge and connections in the local area oil patch - Proven business development strategies - Skilled leadership and motivation abilities - Exceptional customer service - Ability to work independently - Has a vision of growth and strategies for implementation - Valid safety tickets including CPR, First Aid, WHIMIS and H2S Alive - Valid driver’s license with a clean driver’s abstract - Reasonable investment under $100,000 Thank you for your interest but only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Please mail or fax your resume to:

For more details and other career opportunities please visit: www.abpipeliners.com For inquiries please call: 403.290.7806

Please submit your resume to: info@abpipliners.com

MANAGER OF OPERATIONS Box 950, Estevan, SK, S4A 2A7 Fax: 306-634-7828

Titanium is currently looking for dedicated, responsible:

Mechanical Engineer P.Eng The ideal candidate will have excellent interpersonal skills and be able to work as an integral part of a multi-discipline design team. The individual must have extensive component and system design experience, good materials and fabrication knowledge, and be results driven. The candidate should have 3+ years ﬁeld/design experience. Skill with Solidworks an asset. Titanium offers excellent starting wages, beneﬁt packages, scheduled days off and excellent opportunities for advancement. Experience preferred but we are willing to train the right candidate. Please forward resumes attention: Pat Potter Email: ppotter@titaniumtech.ca Fax: 780-875-5249

P.O. Box 2062 Lloydminster,Alberta, T9V 3C3 Or call: Pat at 780-875-1395 780-871-3802

Driven Energy is a progressive busy oilﬁeld service company offering pressure truck and vacuum truck services to the Midwest area. The “Driven” team takes great pride in the quality of service offered and is dedicate to maintaining that stadard. We at “Driven” are looking for experienced:

pressure truck and semi-vac operators who have that same frame of mind. We offer top wages, new eqipment, scheduled days off, beneﬁts and a great atmosphere to work in.

To Apply: Call: 780.205.0780 Fax resume: 780.875.7847 Email: kirk@drivenenergy.ca Quality Driven / Experience Driven / Saftey Driven / Driven for Excellence

C22

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Employment Opportunity

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

Rig Welder is an industry leader in Safety Services and is currently seeking

in Vermillion

Safety Personnel

Tank Experience

to keep up with increasing customer demands.

Career

If you are interested in becoming part of the Target Team and enjoying our growth with us, let us know!

Please forward resume with copies of tickets to: resumes@targetsafety.ca or fax to 780-870-5359

Building Leaders. Driving Success. Flint is an industry leader in oil¿eld hauling by providing the highest quality service and safety when it comes to drilling rig moving, service rig moving, off-road hauling and specialized heavy hauling. We are currently seeking applicants for the following full-time positions in Alberta & British Columbia:

Truck Drivers - Class 1 • Winch tractor, bed truck -truck or boom truck experience will be considered an asset • Off road experience will be considered an asset • We provide on-the-job mentoring program for the right candidates Our bene¿ts package and training and development programs are one of the key reasons why candidates choose Flint as their employer of choice’. Flint provides employees with all of the tools they need to grow and excel both personally and professionally. Apply now at www.Àintenergy.jobs or call our Recruitment Toll-Free line at 1-866-GO-FLINT (1-866-463-5468) Thank you to all who apply; only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Apply in person or email Debbie at

debbie.hudson@ lmginc.ca

Opportunities

HELP WANTED

Oilfield Construction Company Requires Laborers Operators Foreman

Welders Pipefitters Mechanics

Tickets an Asset email: bclowery@banditpipeline.com fax 780-875-7684 or phone:780-875-8764

“We Are One Of Alberta’s Best Workplaces In 2011”

Do you want to work for a progressive company that takes safety seriously and uses today’s newest technologically advanced equipment? If your answer is “yes”, we are interested in talking to you! We are currently seeking to ﬁll the following positions in the Provost, Consort and Lloydminster areas.

RIG HANDS WANTED Ironhand Drilling is a growth orientated company that was founded and built around its most valued asset, its people. As a result, we are continually pursuing enthusiastic, self-motivated, positive candidates that will assist in complimenting the Ironhand team. Ironhand presently operates 7 – Telescopic Doubles ranging in size from 3200m to 3600m. Immediately hiring all positions for new conventional doubles. No experience required for entry level. Must have valid H2S and other applicable safety tickets. Competitive wages, full beneĲts & RRSP program. Apply online for a career with Ironhand Drilling at

www.ironhanddrilling.com or fax resume & tickets to 403-237-9444

Well Servicing Division

Slant Rig Crew for Contract Work Vertical Rig: Derrickhands & Floorhands All applicants must have a valid driver’s license, as well as all of the required industry training for the position they are applying for. We offer higher than industry standard wages, an exceptional employee beneﬁts package, several employee incentive programs and unlimited opportunity for advancement. If you want to grow with a company where you are known by your name and not your employee number, please forward your resume to:

CWC WELL SERVICES Box 1360 3803 52nd Ave Provost, AB T0B 3S0 E-mail: charstang@cwcwellservices.com

Quality people delivering quality service.

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Opportunities

Career

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

Journeyman Electrician/ Maintenance Worker Experience with Welding Equipment. Full time Apply in person or email Debbie at

C23

Employment Opportunities Brent Gedak Welding Ltd. is seeking pressure welders for 2 full time positions. - Valid driver’s license, H2S and CPR/1st Aid Safety tickets required, no rig required. Competitive wages and health benefits available. Please apply with resume by fax to: 634-5148 or in person at 126 Lamoro Street (Hwy 39 West of Estevan)

debbie.hudson@ lmginc.ca

RECEPTIONIST REQUIRED

BRENT GEDAK WELDING

Full time Microsoft ofÀce experience required Basic ofÀce duties Must be a multitasker Pleasant customer service and overall presentation Apply in person or email Debbie at

IMMEDIATE OPENINGS! Truck Driver: Must have: Valid Class 1A License, Clean Drivers Abstract, Valid Passport (MANDATORY), Minimum 1 year experience. Winch experience considered an asset! Duties/Responsibilities: Operate Winch truck, hauling to ND, AB and within SK, Some yard duties as required when not driving. We Offer: Full time hours (home most evenings), competitive wages, benefits and RRSP.

Apply by email to: kswidnicki@doallmetal.com or fax: 306-6374-8388

Permanent Full Time Positions

CREW FOREMAN/ PIPELINE FOREMAN

debbie.hudson@ lmginc.ca

A vibrant & growing company Is hiring for the following positions at our Weyburn SK location:

Coil Operators Coil Helpers Class 1A, Heavy Duty Tow Truck Drivers for the Lloydminster area. Full time, Permanent Position. Will Train. Abstract Required. Call John or Ginette 1-888-875-8111 or Send Resume to Fax: 780-846-0005 Email: actiontowinglloyd@hotmail.com

Essential Coil & Stimulation Services is a company recognized for safety and excellence within the oil & gas industry. We currently provide services throughout Alberta & Southern Saskatchewan. Class 1 driver’s license is preferred, but all class of drivers are welcome to apply. Previous oil Àeld experience & valid tickets are an asset. Essential offers above average wages, job bonuses, employee savings plan, group beneÀt plan, scheduled days off & training will be provided for the right candidates. Great employees are Essential…come see what we have to offer! Fax, email or drop off your resume & current drivers abstract jtimko@essentialcoil.com Fax: 403-580-8906

Wage negotiable depending on experience and qualifications. Safety certificates required (H2S, Confined Space, First Aid/CPR, TDG, Ground Disturbance Level 2). Minimum 5 years oilfield experience.

EQUIPMENT OPERATOR Class 1A license would be an asset. Applicants should be familiar with oilfield work/construction. Applicants must have safety tickets H2S, Confined Space, First Aid/CPR, TDG. In this position you will operate trackhoes, backhoes, graders, cats, etc.

LABOURERS Wages negotiable. Safety tickets required (H2S, Confined Space, TDG, CPR and First Aid) Interested applicants can apply in person, mail or fax resumes to:

McGILLICKY OILFIELD PARTNERSHIP #6 Hwy 39 East, Box 843, Estevan, Sk. S4A 2A7 • Fax: 634-4575 No phone inquires please.

Platinum Pumpjack Services Corp. has grown to be the largest Pumpjack sales and service company in Canada with operations in Lloydminster, Provost, Drayton Valley, Medicine Hat, and Kindersley. We are currently recruiting motivated mechanically inclined individuals for:

PICKER OPERATORS & SWAMPERS (for the Lloydminster, Provost, Drayton Valley, and Kindersley divisions)

PUMPJACK SHOP MECHANICS (for the Lloydminster, and Medicine Hat division)

We offer competitive wages, with overtime, and a beneﬁt package. Only the applicants who are selected for an interview will be contacted. Résumés, including references, stating which location applying for, can be sent to:

Platinum Pumpjack Services Corp. PO Box 10207 Lloydminster, AB T9V 3A3

Fax: (780) 875-7149 Email: aoracheski@platinumenergy.net

C24

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Career Opportunities 12: +,5,1*

Flint is an industry leader in oilﬁeld hauling by providing the highest quality service and safety when it comes to drilling rig moving, service rig moving, off-road hauling and specialized heavy hauling. We are currently seeking applicants for the following full-time position in Lloydminster, Alberta:

Lloydminster - Estevan

Operations Centre Manager - Pipeyard

)URQWLHU 3HWHUELOW 6DOHV /WG

9LHZ $OO &DUHHUV DW ZZZ IURQWLHUSHWHUELOW FRP Frontier Peterbilt Sales Ltd. is an enterprising truck dealership with operations in Saskatoon, Regina Lloydminster and Estevan. Our ongoing development and phenomenal growth in the Truck Sales industry are evidence of the company's commitment to offering customers a comprehensive range of products which perform at optimum efficiency and provide valuable benefits.

Lloydminster We have built a high level of customer trust and satisfaction through our new and used truck inventory and parts availability and reliability, strong geographic presence, premium service, and unparalleled value. We have a strong mandate to continue to grow in the marketplace and to provide quality service for sales, repairs, and maintenance. Frontier Peterbilt Sales Ltd. continually offer opportunities for our employees' career development, we have created an organization and a working environment aimed to attract, empower, reward, and retain the most dedicated, talented, and passionate individuals.

Building Leaders. Driving Success.

•Branch Manager

•Heavy Duty Technician

•New Truck Sales Representative •Service Writer Estevan

•Heavy Duty/Truck & Transport

Job Description:

• Build an organizational culture in line with Flint’s Vision and Values. • Monitor Operation Centre’s performance against performance goals to ensure progress is being made and corrective action, if necessary, is taken. • Lead people using People Focused Practices, Win/Win thinking and create a positive work environment in the business unit through effective communications, performance management and recognition. • Demonstrate excellent leadership & organizational skills in developing positive and productive teams. • Shape and develop the designated area’s strategy and organization including adherence to annual budgets. • Help identify opportunities and areas for improvement within Operating Centre • Advise the Area Manager on strategic business development and key issues that relate and impact the operations of the Area. • Must have 3-5 years experience with trucking or tubular business. Our beneﬁts package and training and development programs are one of the key reasons why candidates choose Flint as their ‘employer of choice’. Flint provides employees with all of the tools they need to grow and excel both personally and professionally.

Apply now at www.ﬂintenergy.jobs or call our Recruitment Toll-Free line at 1-866-GO-FLINT (1-866-463-5468) Thank you to all who apply; only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

Technician

•Used Truck Representative •Service Manager

•New Truck Sales Representative •Lot Attendant These positions offer a competitive and comprehensive compensation package.

Apply online today at: www.frontierpeterbilt.com While Frontier Peterbilt appreciates all applications received, we advise that only candidates under consideration will be contacted. Thank you for your interest for employment with Frontier Peterbilt Sales.

“We Are One Of Alberta’s Best Workplaces In 2011”

Pumping & Stimulation Division Is currently accepting applications for:

Supervisors

Equipment Operators

Class 1 & 3 Drivers With Experience in:

Acidizing Remedial Cementing Nitrogen Pumping For our : Grande Prairie / Dawson Creek Branch Red Deer Branch Saskatchewan / Manitoba Branch With some of the newest equipment in the industry and Technicoil’s commitment to its employees, we offer room for advancement, excellent wages & benefits. If this opportunity interests you and you have a current H2S Alive, First Aid and PST, please submit your resume with a 5 year Driver’s abstract, to: Phone: FAX: E-Mail:

403-314-3090 403-309-3320 employment@technicoilcorp.com

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Southern Range Well Servicing Ltd. is looking for:

• Rig Managers • Derrickhands • All safety tickets required

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Career Opportunities

• Operators • Floorhands • Class 1A or 3A required

Work for a company that offers: Above average wages, Excellent Benefits package Safety incentives and much more Apply online at www.southernrange.ca Or fax your resume to 842-3402

1A, 3A Drivers/ Owner Operators

Integrity Maintenance

Brady Oilfield Services LP.

is looking for

Labourers Must have valid tickets Please fax resume to: 1-306-453-2298 Attn: Mark Slykhuis Or call: 1-306-577-3311

Weyburn, Halbrite and surrounding area. OilÀeld Safety CertiÀcates an asset but not necessary. BeneÀts package available.

Forward Resume and Drivers Abstract

P.O. Box 271 Midale, Sask. S0C 1S0 Fax: (306) 458-2768 sjuravle@brady.sk.ca kbrady@brady.sk.ca

CLASS 1A

DRIVER

WANTED Journeymen Electricians and Apprentices PowerTech Industries Ltd. in Estevan is seeking Journeymen Electricians and Apprentices for work in the Southeast Saskatchewan Oil & Gas Industry. Experience: 1 year (preferred) Safety Certificates are needed. 1st Aid/CPR, H2S, WHMIS. Applicants must have a valid driver’s license. Oilfield background preferred. Full benefits packages and RSP plan. Duties: Day to day electrical construction and maintenance in the oilfield. Wage/Salary Info: Depending on experience & qualifications. To Apply: Fax: (306) 637-2181, e-mail sschoff.pti@sasktel.net or drop off resume to 62 Devonian Street, Estevan, SK.

Required immediately to haul oil/water in the Lloydminster area.

• $24/hour - OT after 8 hours • Accommodations provided Fax drivers abstract and Resume to:

780-808-8767

SRI HOMES’ Estevan Facility SHELTER HOME SYSTEMS is currently accepting applications for

PREFABRICATED HOUSING ASSEMBLERS • Required Immediately • Permanent Full Time • 10 Available Positions • Starting at $14.70 per hour plus benefits Duties include: • Assembling and installing modular components Send, fax, e-mail or drop off resume to: Box 845 #200 Hwy. 18 West, Estevan, SK S4A 2A7 Fax: 306-634-7597 E-mail: jobs.shelter@gmail.com

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

APPRENTICE and/or JOURNEYMAN

WELDER

Top Wages, Full Beneﬁts

Fax: 780-872-5239 Email: kent@metaltekmachining.com drop off resume: 5602 59th Ave Precision Instrumentation & Supply Ltd.

Box 4, Coleville, Saskatchewan Telephone: (306) 965-2550 Fax: (306) 965-2553

Precision Instrumentation is an instrument and electrical company providing service for the oil and gas industry in the Kindersley area. We are currently looking for 1st year apprentices through to journeyman for both the electrical and instrumentation trade.

Please call (306) 965-2550 or fax resume to (306) 965-2553.

Concord Well Servicing

PARTS PERSON REQUIRED • Full time position • Competitive wages • BeneÀts Email resume to: brenda.jensen@bbaxtertransport.ca Fax resume to: 306-634-5066

is looking for experienced service rig hands for work across Alberta.

WANTED

- Part or full time truck drivers needed must have 3A or 1A licenses. - Part of full time heavy equipment operators. Experience and tickets an asset but not necessary should the applicant apply. Please send resumes by fax 306-685-2267 or email: rhonda.shaws@sasktel.net

Minimum QualiÀcations: · Previous service rig experience. · H2S. · First Aid. · Class 5 Drivers License (air brakes an asset). · Travel and accommodation assistance available.

Apply Now Email: resumes@concordwell.com or Fax 1-780-948-3058

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Career Opportunities THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS ARE AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY PICKER OPERATOR Founded in 1925 and based in Easton, PA, the Victaulic Company is the world’s leading ISO 9001 certified manufacturer of mechanical pipe-joining products couplings, fittings, and valves with 3,500 employees worldwide. The company is continuing to experience significant growth and is seeking to add to its staff in selected territories globally.

Sales Specialist OilMining and Gas Sales Specialist Victaulic’s and customised piping solutions can becan found workat thework Victaulic’sstandard standard and customised piping solutions be at found world over over - in small to largetocommercial and industrial HVAC and HVAC fire protection the world - in small large commercial and industrial and ¿re applications, safely movingsafely large volumes wet and dry mediums in industrial piping, protection applications, moving of large volumes of wet and dry mediums oilfields, mining operations andmining municipal water andand waste water treatment plants. in industrial piping, oil¿elds, operations municipal water and waste

waterbegan treatment plants. What as simply a faster, easier and more efficient way of joining pipe has evolved into a whole new approach to solving piping solutions, setting the global What began as simply a faster, easier and more ef¿cient way of joining pipe standard for piping, efficiency and performance reliability.

Applicants must have a Class 1 with an A or B license and a clean Driver’s Abstract. Safety tickets considered an asset. Must be able to pass mandatory drug and alcohol testing. Job involves general oilfield hauling and setting pumpjacks.

DRIVER - OILFIELD Haul pipe and oilfield equipment to locations in SE Saskatchewan. Applicants must have a Class 1A driver’s licence and pass mandatory drug and alcohol testing. Safety tickets would be an asset. Duties include: load, haul pipe and supplies to destination in a safe and timely manner & unload. Maintain a clean and safe truck.

Some of the many benefits to consider when applying for a position at Bert Baxter Transport in Estevan: • Full time, permanent employment • Full benefits packages available • Clean, safe work environment

Interested applicants can fax to: 306-634-4258 or email: brenda.jensen@bbaxtertransport.ca

has evolved into a whole new approach to solving piping solutions, setting the

Victaulic is seeking a talented Mining Sales Specialist to join its team in the Western global standard for piping, ef¿ciency and performance reliability. Australia Goldfields. The successful individual will focus on developing business in the Mining markets for all of the company’s engineered products and solutions by Victaulic is seeking a talented Oil and Gas Sales Specialist to join its team in calling on Mining Engineers, Consultants, Owners, Management and Contractors.

Estevan, SK. The successful individual will focus on developing business in the

If “can do” for attitude, sales experience in an industrial orand commercial oilyou andhave gasamarkets all of some the company’s engineered products solutions market (mining experience preferred), thenField we want to talk with you. by calling on Engineers, Owners, and Locations. Victaulic offers an excellent remuneration package including base salary, commission If yousuperannuation, have a “can do” attitude, experience in an industrial or plan, training and some strong sales sales support.

commercial market (oil and gas experience preferred), then we want to talk with you. Apply online at www.miningpeople.com.au Victaulic offers an excellent remuneration package including base salary, For a conﬁdential discussion, please contact Katie Burns on sales (08) 9091 8882, quoting the job reference commission plan, training and strong support. KB2135, after 8am WST Tuesday.

Total conﬁdentiality guaranteed. For more information, please visit our website atiswww.victaulic.com Send resume to Canadahr@victaulic.com www.miningpeople.com.au Equal Opportunity/Af¿rmative Action Employer

DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? Canyon is the fastest growing Fracturing Company in Western Canada. If you’re looking for a career with a leading organization that promotes Integrity, Relationships, Innovation, and Success then we’re looking for YOU!

CLASS 1 DRIVERS Canyon is hiring for the following positions:

SUPERVISORS: Fracturing OPERATORS: Fracturing SR. BULK PLANT OPERATOR HEAVY DUTY MECHANIC ELECTRONIC TECHNICIAN Applicant requirements:

x Self motivated x Willing to work flexible hours x Current abstract Why Canyon? x Dynamic, rapidly growing company

x Premium compensation package

x Safety focused x Team oriented x Clean Class 1 License an asset. Must have Class 3 or 5 (training provided)

x Paid technical and leadership training x Career advancement opportunities

We thank all applicants; however, only those selected for an initial interview will be contacted.

To apply: email your resume to hr@canyontech.ca or fax to (306) 637-3379

FRACTURING ACIDIZING COILED TUBING CEMENTING

www.canyontech.ca

C & N OilÀeld is currently looking to Àll the following Full Time positions. · Labourer · Health and Safety OfÀcer (Carnduff Area) · Pressure Truck Driver (Stoughton Area) · Chemical Circulator (Stoughton Area) · Journeyman Mechanic (Carnduff Area) To apply fax or email your resume. Fax: 306-482-5213 E-mail: info@candnoilÀeld.com

C&N OilÀeld 1411 Hwy. 18, Carnduff, Sk. Phone: 306-482-5105

www.candnoilÀeld.com

We’re Hiring! Due to growth and an expanding economy we have immediate openings for the following positions: · Journeyman Carpenter/ Construction Foreman · Journeyman Heavy Duty Technician · 1A Drivers for Sand and Gravel Division · 3A Drivers for concrete Redi-Mix Division Top wages, BeneÀt package, ProÀt Sharing and more for the right individual. Talk to us soon and join our team. Send resume to: Turnbull Excavating Ltd. Att: Pat Boyle Box 788 Estevan, SK S4A 2A6 or email to pat.turnbullexcavating@sasktel.net

PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

Calfrac has grown from a small oilfield services company to an international leader in fracturing and coiled tubing well services.

Rotational Opportunities As a key part of our strategy, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve developed a rotational schedule for our Canadian operations. The 3-weeks-in, 2-weeks-out field positions currently available are:

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On your application, please include this code: CWS001 Call us: 1-877-908-FRAC (3722) Fax us: 1-403-234-6655 Apply online: www.calfrac.com/careers

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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011

“Your Drilling Rig Hydraulic Specialists”

Services we provide:

Sales & Service we provide:

• Parker Store • Full Machine Shop and Fabrication • 24 Hour Mobile Repairs and Testing • Complete System Design • Hydraulic Crane Repairs • Preventative Maintenance • Power Unit Fabrication

• Industrial & Hydraulic Hose and Fittings • Pumps & Motors • Valves • Cylinders • Pneumatic Controls • Winches • Pipe Handling Equipment

o Kelly Spinner o Pipe Spinner o Rod Tongs o Tubing Tongs

Contact Information: Estevan Phone: (306)634-6743

Regina Phone: (306)721-1559

Address: 69 Escana Street, Estevan, Sask. S4A 2H7

Address: 259 McDonald St. N., Regina, Sask. S4N 5W2

Website: www.wil-tech.ca