The active rate of drilling rigs in Western Canada began to rise at the end of May as companies started to bring more rigs online after spring breakup.

The active rate entered the month at 22 per cent, and exited at 27 per cent, according to Rig Locator.

Still, that’s a lower exit rate than last May, which stood at 28 per cent. Overall, for the first five months of the year, rig activity is sitting higher than in 2022, however.

Rig release counts, including experimental wells

In April, producers drilled 256 wells, including experimental holes, down one per cent from 259 a year ago. Data for May will be available mid-month.

Precision Drilling Corporation, in an update this week, said it has 46 rigs active in Canada and expects to have over 60 rigs active by the end of the month “as we begin to emerge from the lows of spring breakup.”

To date, the wildfires in Alberta and British Columbia have had a modest impact on its operations, Precision said, and the company expects Q2 activity to average approximately 42 rigs, a 14 per cent increase over last year.