REGINA - The province has made an announcement aimed at creating new oil production from low-producing or inactive wells in Saskatchewan.
The Government of Saskatchewan says it is launching the Low Productivity and Reactivation Oil Well Program, something that had been previously announced in the 2025-26 provincial budget.
According to Minister of Energy and Resources Colleen Young, the goal of this program is to encourage industry partners others to make investments in low-producing or inactive wells.
“Investing in already existing low-producing or inactive wells will lead to new incremental oil production,” Young said. “This new production means additional revenue for the province of Saskatchewan.”
It is estimated upwards of 25,000 of these types of wells could qualify for this new program, said Young.
“We project the Low Productivity and Reactivation Oil Well Program will add up to an additional 30,000 barrels per day of oil production and add about $21 million in additional revenue for Saskatchewan people. We expect that the LPRP will encourage work contracts and work for service and supply companies in the province as well.”
Saturn Oil and Gas has been pushing the government to get an incentive in place. The company does a lot of work in reactivating oil wells.
“Really what we were trying to do here was we wanted to create a win-win for the oil industry and the province,” said John Jeffrey, CEO of Saturn Oil and Gas. “So by taking otherwise liabilities, which were inactive wells, by putting money into it and by turning them back on creates additional revenue for the province in terms of royalties. It creates additional opportunities for us, the oil companies. But I think the big win here is generally if you're drilling a new well, those are going to be drill rigs and crews brought out of Alberta. When you start looking at the service side, which this is, those are more local crews. So that's more jobs for the province, more royalties. And that, in our opinion, is the best win- win scenario we can get.”
Jeffrey adds that small oil companies are “going to go to the Orphan Well Fund, see what's there, (and) take wells out. And that takes a burden off industry and taxpayers to have to clean those up. So we don't see any downside. There's no cost to the province. And it's all incremental to the energy industry and the province.”
Young spoke of how the province is able to benefit from this program.
“It's another $21 million if we can get another 30,000 barrels of oil out of the ground in the next four years,” Young said. “That's more revenue for the province to be able to invest into schools, hospitals, healthcare facilities, and roads. And, you know, municipal revenue sharing comes out of that as well for our municipalities. So it means more revenues for the province, but it also means more revenues and opportunity for jobs and growth in those industries in our province as well.”
Details on how to apply can be found at .
