Canadian licensing activity rebounded in July, up to 641 new well licences during the month. This compares to 513 licences obtained in June, and 674 in May. In comparison with previous Julys, this was an active month. July 2023 saw 532 new licences and July 2022 saw 547 new licences.
MOST ACTIVE LICENSEES
| Company | Licences |
|---|---|
| Tourmaline | 62 |
| Cenovus | 43 |
| ARC Resources | 32 |
| Teine Energy | 29 |
| Whitecap | 26 |
| Paramount | 26 |
| Ovintiv | 24 |
| Suncor | 23 |
| Headwater | 22 |
| Surge | 21 |
| Peyto | 21 |
| Spur Petroleum | 19 |
| ConocoPhillips | 18 |
| Veren | 16 |
| Shell Canada Limited | 16 |
| Longshore Resources Ltd. | 15 |
| Obsidian | 15 |
| CNRL | 13 |
| Baytex | 11 |
| Saturn | 9 |
| Strathcona | 9 |
- Tourmaline was the top licensee in July with 62 new licences obtained. Of those, 41 are targeting the Montney, 16 Charlie Lake, 3 Charlie Lake and 2 Glauconitic. Of note on the 2 Glauconitic wells is that they are on the acquired Bonavista lands (Figure 1).
- Cenovus had the second most licences in July, with a variety of different formations licensed, mostly targeting either its oilsands assets or its Saskatchewan heavy oil and thermal oil assets.
- ARC Resources was the 3rd most active licensee in July, with all 32 of its licences coming from the NE BC Montney, specifically at Sunrise and at Dawson (Figure 2).
- Interestingly there were 52 licences in July where the licensee did not match the listed mineral rights owner, with many licences occurring on land held by land broker. BOE Intel subscribers will have access to this list via our “Well Mismatches” tool.
Figure 1- Tourmaline Glauconitic licences vs. mineral rights acquired from Bonavista
Figure 2 – ARC Resources licences
MOST ACTIVE FORMATIONS LICENSED
| Formation | Licences |
|---|---|
| Montney | 164 |
| Clearwater | 58 |
| Viking | 41 |
| McMurray | 33 |
| Duvernay | 32 |
| Sparky | 28 |
| Spirit River | 22 |
| Cardium | 20 |
| Cummings | 17 |
- The Montney was far and away the most targeted formation for new licences in July, with 164 new Montney licences obtained. This represents an impressive 26% of all new licensing activity (Figure 4). The Montney has taken on a larger percentage of total licensing activity over the last few years, in particular since the province of BC and the Blueberry River First Nations resolution in January 2023.
- Tourmaline had the most Montney licences in July with 41, followed by ARC Resources (32), Ovintiv (24), ConocoPhillips (18), Shell Canada (16) and Paramount (10).
- Logan Energy licensed just its second Montney well (Figure 3) in BC since the spinout from Spartan Delta. Neither licence has yet to be spud.
- The Clearwater was the second most popular formation to be licensed in July, with a total of 58 new licences obtained.
- Headwater had 22 of these, followed by Spur Petroleum with 17.
- The Duvernay was the 5th most active formation with 32 new licences in July.
- Of these, Paramount had 16 new Duvernay licences, or 50% of the total.
Figure 3 – Logan Energy Montney licence
Figure 4
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