Canada

Calgary-based Precision Drilling Corp., whose contract drilling business works in all of North America’s major onshore basins, said Monday it used 14 fewer rigs in the United States and Canada in the first quarter than it did in the final three months of 2015, with more Canadian rigs looking for natural gas.

Industry spending on natural gas and oil leases has dived to the lowest level since 1992 in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB).

Westcoast Energy Inc., an indirect subsidiary of Spectra Energy Corp., has agreed to sell its ownership interests in Spectra’s Canadian natural gas liquids (NGL) business to Plains Midstream Canada ULC (PMC), an indirect subsidiary of Plains All American Pipeline LLC (PAA), for approximately C$200 million (US$150 million) plus customary closing adjustments, the companies said Monday.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd. and its partners have postponed indefinitely the Browse joint venture floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project off the coast of Western Australia.

Canada’s natural gas inventory has grown by 219 Tcf, based on the first official forecast of shale supplies that horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing would make available in the northern Liard Basin of British Columbia (BC).

Defeat is in sight for a six-year crusade to keep “fracked” natural gas out of New Brunswick as a Canadian fortress of environmental purity, according to a provincial inquiry.

The U.S. land rig count dropped by another 13 units for the week ending March 11 when there was an exodus of horizontal rigs that saw Texas leading declines among the states.

A 46-unit drop in the Canadian rig count helped drive the North American tally down by 59 in the latest count by Baker Hughes Inc. The start of an early spring break-up contributed to declines in Canada.

The North American natural gas trade survived value destruction that ran parallel to the fall of oil on glutted markets during the first nine months of 2015, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.