May-June Licence Activity Review – The Montney reigns supreme yet again

The Montney was the most popular producing formation in a month of licensing that greatly exceeded what we observed in our last two Licence Activity Reviews (March-April and April-May). Between May 12 and June 14, 663 licences were obtained. This represents a 12.1% increase from the previous month and a 56.4% over the month before that. These licences were spread across 84 unique licensees, who accounted for an average of just under 8 licences each. Using data from BOE Intel and Petro Ninja, we’ve identified a number of trends across the various producers and producing formations.

Top Licensees

Among the most active licensees, we’ve identified a number of interesting trends:

• Whitecap posted 48 licences, marking its second consecutive month of licensing activity growth (46 in April-May and 14 in March-April). The company’s licences were spread fairly evenly across its major assets, with 11 located in Smoky River (all targeting the Montney) and the remainder split between its Kindersley assets in West Central Saskatchewan and various areas in Southeast Saskatchewan with a heavy focus on the Viking and the Frobisher.
• CNRL licensed heavily in the Lloydminster, with the company’s 18 licences for this formation accounting for almost half of its total. 13 out of 43 licences were located in Saskatchewan, which is a greater proportion than we’ve observed from CNRL in prior months.
• Ovintiv was the only licensee within the top 10 to target only one formation. All 43 of the company’s licences were for the Montney, most of which were spread across the Elmworth and Wembley fields in Alberta and the Tower and Sunrise fields in BC.
• Lycos has drilled some fishbone wells, a multi-lateral well that involves a high number of UWIs per licence (more information on its approach is available here). This means that the company’s 10 licences are associated with over 100 Unique Well Identifiers (UWIs). Having gone public on December 12, 2022, the company appears to be in the process of implementing an ambitious drilling program. This follows the company’s acquisition of 2,600 net acres of land in Q1 2023.

 

Top Licensees
Licensee	Licence Count
Whitecap Resources Inc.	48
Ovintiv Canada Ulc	43
Canadian Natural Resources Limited	39
Teine Energy Ltd.	39
Cenovus Energy Inc.	33
Spur Petroleum Ltd.	33
Suncor Energy Inc.	31
Arc Resources Ltd.	29
Baytex Energy Ltd	28
Tourmaline Oil Corp.	21
Total	663

Top Producing Formations

The top formations in this past month were mostly the usual suspects, although we did spot some interesting trends:

• The Montney has topped our list once again. The 153 Montney licences between May 12 and June 12 exceeded the prior month by 53, which in turn exceeded the March-April count by 38 licences. Ovintiv claimed top spot with 43 licences. Other top Montney licensees include ARC Resources (29), Pacific Canbriam (17) and Whitecap Resources (11).
• The Viking was also highly active, with this month’s 88 licences representing a 3 month high. Teine led the pack once again with 38 licences, exceeding the prior month. Baytex and Whitecap accounted for 23 and 20 Viking licences respectively.
• The Clearwater also had a busy month, although the formation’s licence count actually declined compared to the prior period (76 licences). Spur Petroleum, who recently caught our attention due to a non-core asset sale to HWN Energy, obtained a group-leading 33 licences. Other active licensees in the Clearwater include Headwater Exploration (10) and Clearwater pure-play producer Rubellite (9).

Top Producing Formations
Producing Formations	Licence Count
Montney	153
Viking	88
Mcmurray	62
Clearwater	58
Lloydminster	23
Cardium	21
Frobisher	19
Sparky	19
Spirit River	19
Waseca	18
Other	27
Total	663

This analysis was made possible with data and tools provided by BOE Intel and Petro Ninja. To get more information or to schedule a demo of the full capabilities of these products, please contact us.