Oil and gas drilling still lags behind the financial recovery recorded by production companies for the first six months of this year, according to a prominent Calgary field contractor that runs rig fleets in Canada, the United States and overseas.

Ensign

“Operating and financial results continue to show residual impacts resulting from the events of 2020,” said management for Ensign Energy Services Inc. “While activity has improved from 2020 lows in the second quarter of 2021, industry operating conditions are still recovering from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Ensign cut the number of marketed rigs available for work by 15% to 227 in the first six months of this year, from 266 in the first half of 2020, when the fleets were busy until the global pandemic hit in...