Helium Evolution joint drilling programme moves forward in Saskatchewan

North American Helium, the drilling partner of Canada’s Helium Evolution, has completed its drilling operations of a joint well near Mankota, Saskatchewan.

Helium Evolution confirmed North American Helium’s progress and said it will proceed with casing the joint well at 10-1-4-9W3M.

The 10-1 Well is part of the previously announced development plan for up to nine wells in the Mankota area. The partners hope to spud the wells between Q3 2024 and Q2 2025.

North American Helium will complete, test, and evaluate the 10-1 well in the coming weeks to confirm the presence of helium and assess the commerciality of the potential helium discovery.

Helium Evolution has a 20% working interest in the wells.

Back in February (2024), Helium Evolution reported that its 9-35 well flow tested at approximately seven million standard cubic feet per day and 9,000 kilopascals of flowing tubing pressure during the six-day extended flow period.

Read more: Helium Evolution confirms spudding of joint well in Saskatchewan 

The gas composition of the 9-35 well is 0.64% helium and 96.7% nitrogen.

Saskatchewan’s helium opportunity 

In 2021, Saskatchewan released it Helium Action Plan: From Exploration to Exports. The plan outlines the province’s ambition to supply 10% of the global helium market share by 2030. To achieve this, Saskatchewan plans to have 150+ dedicated helium production wells, annual exports worth more than 500m and up to 15 purification and liquefaction facilities by 2030.

Read more: Inside Saskatchewan’s helium action plan

Currently, Saskatchewan’s helium sector is concentrated in the southwest of the province. There are presently multiple active helium leases and permits for exploration and production activities, encompassing over four million hectares of land – a figure that has quadrupled since 2018.

With the Helium Action Plan, the province is looking to expand this footprint across its landmass and make the most of its significant underground reserves and attractive geology. As gasworld understands, Saskatchewan has undertaken studies of over 90,000 oil and gas wells and more than 7,000 gas analyses, with results highlighting deposits of up to 2% helium concentrations.