Training Philosophy
To ensure the growth of Ensign’s own employees and to help them advance their skills, Matthews says the company focuses heavily on training, including specific training on the use of the new-generation equipment.

The crews that ultimately deploy with every new Ensign rig have already worked on previously commissioned “sister” rigs in the field.

This reduces or eliminates the ramp up time that is common in the drilling industry. When a rig is brand new, the crews are experienced and trained on that equipment before it goes out to work in the field.

Expansion in the Future
Ensign has operations in Canada, the United States, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia.

Its international reputation has enabled it to be “flexible and nimble enough to approach new market opportunities when they’re available, regardless of where they are,” Matthews explains. “We’re looking at opportunities in other countries right now that will allow us to further support our customers.”

About Ensign Energy Service
With approximately 8,000 employees worldwide, parent company Ensign Energy Service Inc. is as an industry leader in the delivery of oilfield services. Since its inception in 1987, the company has collected an extensive line of equipment and wide array of subsidiaries to support one of the world’s fastest-growing businesses today.

Ensign Energy is the second-largest land-based drilling contractor and third-largest well servicing contractor in Canada. Based in Calgary, Alberta, the company operates in Canada, the United States and internationally, including Venezuela, Libya, Argentina, Gabbon, Oman, Thailand and Indonesia, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Its services include:

• Drilling
• Coalbed methane/oilsands coring
• Underbalanced drilling
• Oilfield rentals
• Camps and catering
• Well-servicing
• Production testing
• Mechanical wireline
• Manufacturing
• Transportation
  

Ensign Energy operates the Canadian drilling rig fleet through the Ensign Drilling Partnership, which is composed of Big Sky Drilling, Champion Drilling, Encore Coring & Drilling and Tri-City Drilling.

“Ensign's Canadian drilling rig fleet offers customers both quality and flexibility, and encompasses the complete spectrum of oil and natural gas drilling depths – from approximately 1,300 feet to more than 20,000 feet,” the company says. Mobility is crucial to a drilling contractor’s fleet, it adds.

“Ensign's rig fleet meets the highest standards for mobility,” it continues. “In addition, Ensign's Canadian drilling rig fleet is configured to accommodate the requirements of the latest drilling technology and processes, such as horizontal and underbalanced drilling technology, slant drilling, and the horizontal re-entry of existing wells.”

Added Advantage
Some of the company’s recent acquisitions in Canada include:

• The oilfield rental assets of Canadian Select Energy West in Whitecourt, Alberta
• Big Sky Drilling Ltd. and its affiliated companies, which owns and operates eight drilling rigs in Oxbow, Saskatchewan
• Eleven well-servicing rigs from Crown Well Servicing Ltd.
• Twenty-three specialty coring and drilling rigs from Layne Christensen Canada Limited
• Eleven camps and associated catering assets from Slave Lake Rentals & Contracting Ltd.
• Three coring and mineral rigs from Midnight Sun Drilling Co. Ltd.

Ensign Energy also acquired Servicios Petroleros Flint C.A. and Flintco del Ecuador C.A., which operates 11 drilling rigs and one workover rig in Venezuela, two workover rigs in Ecuador, and three other drilling rigs in Libya.

The company says its dedication to customer service gives it an added advantage with acquisitions. According to Ensign Energy, it is:

• Committed to providing a safe working environment
  
• Focused on recruitment, training and personnel development
• Committed to in-house engineering expertise, design and construction of specialty equipment
• Equipment maintained to the highest standards

Safety is a top priority for Ensign Energy, the company says. “Our goal is to protect our people, our property and the environment in which they work and live,” it explains. “It is a commitment that is in the best interest of our customers, our employees and all other stakeholders.”

It adds that it has an “ongoing goal to achieve year-over-year improvement in safety performance and zero accidents and zero injuries.”