TOP WELL REPORT – July volumes – Crescent Point and Ovintiv dominate, while notable wells from CNRL, Murphy, Tamarack Valley, Advantage and others provide something for everyone

The July data is out for the highest producing oil and gas wells in Canada. As always, we use calendar day production metrics so these are real volumes produced in the month.

The list of the top 15 liquids wells (oil + condensate) and top 15 natural gas wells based on production from the month of July is below. You can also click on the link below to view the wells all on one map, or click on the UWIs individually to see their location and production profiles on Petro Ninja.

TOP 15 OIL/CONDENSATE WELLS (see on map)

TOP 15 NATURAL GAS WELLS (see on map)

Notable oil/condensate wells:

• Crescent Point continued its dominance of the top oil/condensate wells over the last few months. The company had 6 of the top 7 wells, mixing in some that were previously on this list with 3 new wells just brought on production near the start of July. The acquisition of Spartan Delta’s Montney assets appears to be paying off already. The six wells had oil rates ranging from 819-1,325 b/d, and all came with associated gas rates of over 400 BOE/d as well.
• Tamarack Valley had Canada’s 2 best Charlie Lake oil wells in the month of July, coming in at 873 b/d and 816 b/d plus associated gas. Both wells are brand new producers with on production dates of July 1, 2023.
• Advantage Energy, usually thought of as more of a natural gas producer, came in with the 12th and 15th highest producing oil wells in the month. Both wells were from the Montney; 1 at Wembley and 1 at Valhalla. The two wells produced at average rates of 747 b/d and 684 b/d, respectively. These wells came with high associated gas rates as well; on a BOE/d basis these wells produced 1,430 BOE/d and 1,979 BOE/d, respectively.
• Also usually thought of as a natural gas producer; Bonavista Energy had the 11th most prolific oil well and top Duvernay oil well in the month of July. This well came from Pembina and produced at an average rate of 751 b/d.
• Canadian Natural Resources had 2 wells make the top 15 this month. The company had a Montney well at Wembley that produced at an average rate of 688 b/d and had the only Dunvegan well to make the top 15. This well came from Karr and produced at an average rate of 745 b/d.
• Aspenleaf had a well from the Nisku formation surrounding Leduc No.1 that has been on this list before and continues to produce at high oil rates. It has been on production since Jan 1, 2023, has produced over 165,000 barrels in that time, and still produced 791 b/d in July.
• Suede Energy made the Top Well Report for the first time, with an oil well from Wintering Hills that produced 715 b/d in July. The formation is not listed, but is most likely the Ellerslie. Suede has spud 22 wells since the beginning of 2020, and all that have a listed formation have come from the Ellerslie. Those wells that have production data are shown in Figure 1 below, along with an average of those wells (hover over the chart to see). The well that made the list this month would be the company’s best producing well to date.

Figure 1 – Suede Energy wells

TOP 15 OIL/CONDENSATE WELLS – JULY VOLUMES

Notable natural gas wells:

• • Ovintiv dominated the top natural gas wells list again, although with 10 of the top 15 wells, this is actually the fewest representation from Ovintiv that we’ve had in many months. This is most certainly not as a result of a drop off in quality, but simply that Ovintiv has not been quite as active bringing on wells as it was at the beginning of 2023. Note that Ovintiv has 3 wells on this list to each cumulatively produce over 6 BCF of gas so far. The highest rate was 26.6 mmcf/d, with all of these wells coming from the Sunrise/Swanlake area in northeast BC.
  • Murphy Oil has not been extremely active in Canada lately, and recently sold off some of its Duvernay and Montney assets in Alberta, but the company did produce some big gas wells in July. Murphy had 4 wells in the top 15 coming from the Montney at Sundown in northeast BC. Interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, these wells are in fairly close proximity to Ovintiv’s Sunrise area. These 4 wells produced between 17.8-23.1 mmcf/d in July.
  • It is not unusual to see Canadian Natural Resources on this list with a top natural gas well. What is slightly unusual is its location. CNRL had a Montney well produce 18.9 mmcf/d from the Graham field in northeast BC. This area is west of Altares, in an area that has not seen as much Montney development, so a well of this magnitude is certainly encouraging for the company’s prospects nearby. In fact it is part of 4 wells from the same pad that cumulatively produced over 52 mmcf/d in July (see Figure 2 below).

Figure 2 – CNRL’s 4 well Montney pad at Graham – aggregate production

TOP 15 NATURAL GAS WELLS – JULY VOLUMES

*note the liquids column in this list only counts oil/condensate and not other NGLs.