Saskatchewan oil drillers have increased open hole multilateral well development in the southeast light oil fairway and in the heavy oil Mannville Stack in the west central part of the province bordering Alberta since the launch of the province’s incentive program in 2024.

Almost 660 licences have been drilled in the province in the last two years, with total of 2,936 multilateral legs. Approximately 2.7 million metres of total lateral length have been drilled.

Cenovus Energy Inc. has been the busiest operator, drilling 126 wells with an average of six legs per well.

Cenovus has been targeting the Mannville Stack as part of an ongoing effort to raise its overall conventional Lloydminster heavy oil production to 40,000 bbls/d by 2028, said president and chief executive officer Jon McKenzie on a recent earnings call.

“One of the things we think about as it relates to some of the shorter cycle assets we have, and in particular as it relates to Lloydminster, we just think we have some tremendous structural advantages there,” he said.

“We own a huge block of land that’s full of oil. We have all the infrastructure, we have all the pipelines, and we have a lot of the royalty rights there as well.”

In 2026, the company plans on spending between $150 million and $200 million growing production at Lloydminster, he said.

“That works out to growth in the 10 per cent range as we move towards that 40,000 bbls/d. But as with any investment it has to make money at $45....”

Source: gDC Multilaterals Well Activity Dashboard

Whitecap Resources Inc. has been the most active driller in southeast Saskatchewan, targeting both the Frobisher and Bakken plays in the area.

Whitecap has drilled 144 multilaterals since the incentive program began, with 508 total lateral legs.

In the Bakken, Whitecap has been moving from a one-mile to a two-mile and now to a three-mile multilateral design, said vice-president of its conventional division, Chris Bullin, at its investor day.

“The key takeaway is that we’ve systematically increased reservoir contact through longer laterals, … maximizing reservoir contact and productive capability without sacrificing capital efficiency.”

Its first three-mile, eight-leg open hole multilateral well achieved an IP90 rate 38 per cent above expectations, with a record 34,600 metres drilled, said Bullin at its year-end earnings call.

The average multilateral targeting the Middle Bakken had a total lateral length of 18,585 metres in the last two years. 

With over 1,500 Bakken locations in inventory, he said, “we see substantial opportunity to further enhance well economics across this asset.”

“And in the Frobisher our continued focus is on maximizing reservoir contact through both longer laterals and additional lateral legs. Relative to 2022, our average leg count per well has increased from roughly 2 to 2.6 in 2025.”

Whitecap is seeing a 30 per cent increase in reservoir contact as a result of the new well designs, driving a 30 per cent improvement in six-month cumulative oil recovery, he said.

The Frobisher’s average IP180 production topped expectations by 41 per cent in 2025.

Since entering the play in 2021, Whitecap has organically added nearly 200 premium locations, extending its inventory runway by approximately four years.

Source: gDC Multilaterals Well Activity Dashboard

Saturn Oil & Gas Ltd. is also seeing strong results using multilaterals in the Bakken, said chief development officer Justin Kaufmann on its year-end earnings call.

“The open hole multilateral wells offer some of the shortest payouts and highest returns in our inventory.”

Saturn has drilled 14 wells into the Bakken since April 2024, with 110 total legs and over 388,000 total lateral length.

“What makes this program particularly compelling is that we’re applying the open hole multilateral technique to assets that have no book locations, reserves, or value ascribed to them at the time of acquisition. At year-end 2025, we’ve identified more than 380 gross open hole locations, with only about a quarter of those booked.”

Saturn has been extending lateral lengths where possible, Kaufmann said, and is seeing strong production increases and slower declines in the longer wells.

“We plan to drill our Bakken open hole multilateral wells as two-milers going forward where the land position allows.”

Saskatchewan’s Multi-lateral Oil Well Program offers volumetric drilling incentives for eligible multilateral horizontal oil wells drilled on or after April 1, 2024, and on or before March 31, 2028.

The amount of additional volumetric incentive provided depends on the number of laterals drilled. Wells with more than five legs receive the highest incentive.