Market context: Bluesky, Clearwater, and Clearwater equivalent multilaterals drive future growth
With the sale of legacy operated assets in the Pembina oilfield last week for $320 million, Obsidian Energy’s focus is to grow assets in the Peace River Oilsands area, where it has been successfully delineating over 600 sections of land the last two years.
Obsidian is approaching the mid-point of an ambitious three-year plan launched in late 2023 to grow production at Peace River from 6,600 boe/d to 24,000 boe/d.
At the end of 2024, production averaged 13,727 boe/d. Production from the Clearwater and Clearwater equivalent formations averaged 4,939 boe/d at year-end, with the underlying Bluesky formation averaging 8,788 boe/d.
Bluesky leads the way
Individual Bluesky well performance has varied. Obsidian’s top 10 wells from 2023-2024 reported first six-month production ranging from 28,089 bbls of heavy oil up to 76,444 bbls.
Three wells have surpassed 100,000 bbls of cumulative production. Its top producing Bluesky well, with an on-production date of March 19, 2024, had cumulative production of 106,786 bbls.
Obsidian has been drilling 10-12 multilateral legs per license in the Bluesky, with a range of total multilateral lengths from 12,000-18,000 metres per well.
Falher top Clearwater equivalent target
Obsidian is drilling 8-11 multilateral legs per well in the Clearwater and Clearwater equivalent formations overlying the Bluesky formation. Total multilateral lengths range from 10,000 metres to slightly over 18,000 metres.
The Falher accounted for all the top 10 Clearwater equivalent wells drilled in 2023-2024. Average first six-month oil production ranged from 25,572 bbls to 60,965 bbls.
Obsidian’s best Falher well had cumulative production of 83,623 bbls, with an on-production date of April 20, 2024.
Peace River reserves and drilling locations increasing
Obsidian has been adding land, reserves, and new drilling locations as it successfully delineates its Peace River assets.
In May 2024, it acquired 148 net sections of land in the Peace River area. Combined with other smaller acquisitions completed in 2024, the company has over 680 net sections with Clearwater and/or Bluesky heavy oil rights.
Heavy oil and bitumen reserves at year-end 2024 were up in all categories, as were drilling locations:
- Proved reserves climbed from 13.7 million bbls to 27.5 million bbls
- Proved and probable reserves increased from 21.2 million bbls to 47.1 million bbls
- Heavy oil locations more than tripled with 107 net 2P reserve locations added over the year
- Obsidian now has 97 net locations in the Clearwater, 63 net locations in the Bluesky
Data access:
The data for this analysis was drawn from gDC Cloud, an advanced geospatial platform created by geoLOGIC. Additional analysis used geoLOGIC’s gDC Production Analysis Dashboard. Click here to view this data.
If you have questions about how you can use gDC Cloud to view the details of this insight and the underlying data, or how to enable your workflows, email [email protected] or call Eric Trouillot at 403-444-1656.
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