Slow down in drilling impacts fourth quarter results for Western fracking companies
CALGARY — Companies whose services are needed for hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” of oil and gas wells are reporting tough times thanks to a slowdown in drilling in Western Canada in the fourth quarter.
Shares in both Trican Well Service Ltd. and Source Energy Services Ltd. trended lower Thursday after the Calgary-based companies reported lower sales in the last three months of 2018.
Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemicals under high pressure to crack tight rock formations deep underground and allow trapped oil and gas to flow into the well to be produced.
Trican, whose crews step in after a well is drilled to make it ready for production, reported a fourth-quarter net loss from continuing operations of $159 million (including a $134-million goodwill impairment charge), compared with a net profit of $14 million a year earlier.