Another Calgary-based drilling company is looking farther afield for work, probing beneath the warm soils of Mexico.In a news release late Tuesday, Savanna Energy Services Corp. announced it is moving four drilling rigs into Mexico under contract.

“This represents the first expansion of Savanna’s drilling operations beyond Canada and the United States; however, it is anticipated by the company that we will continue to expand our international presence moving forward,” it said in the release.

The contract is with “a large U.S.-based, multi-service provider,” Savanna stated, without being specific. The rigs will be deployed to the Chicontepec region in central eastern Mexico, working for an initial term of 18 months, with an extension option.

The strategy is similar to that employed by Calgary-based Trinidad Drilling Ltd., which moved three rigs to the same area of Mexico last fall under a six-month contract and said last month it will add three more rigs under an 18-month contract with a U.S. partner.

Drilling activity in Canada and the United States has been depressed throughout 2009 due to a glut of natural gas on the market. The western Canadian drilling fleet has recently climbed to 16 per cent utilization as spring breakup, when melting snow makes backcountry moves impossible, comes to an end, according to the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors. A year ago, it calculated a 33 per cent rate.

A Baker Hughes Inc. rig count in late June showed that 917 rigs were working in the U.S., down 996 from a year ago, and 148 were active in Canada, off by 208.

Savanna said the equipment to be deployed are mid-depth telescoping double drilling rigs, a core conventional platform within the company. Two will be relocated from the U.S. and the other two are newly built rigs.

“With the execution of this contract, Savanna now operates four rigs in Mexico, 14 in the U.S., 87 in Canada, and will be accepting delivery of two additional new-builds by Q3, 2009, resulting in a total fleet of 107 drilling rigs,” the release reads.


http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/Savanna+Energy+moves