Warmer than average temperatures aren't melting many expectations for a booming first quarter 2006 in the oil and gas sector, but the oilfield services outfits will still be keeping an eye on the thermometer during the traditionally busy season.

Roger Soucy, president of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC), says the weather so far has had "very little impact" on drilling and service activity.

"I've checked with some of our larger member companies; Grande Prairie and north there's been some daytime road bans, but companies have got around that by moving equipment at night. During the day the frost starts to come out of the ground so they don't want to damage gravel roads and secondary roads," Soucy says.

To move heavy equipment around swampy regions, areas of soft ground and secondary roads, the industry must often wait until the frost sets in, especially farther north.

Soucy says in some cases, municipalities have placed limits on the hours of service and the amount of weight that can travel on certain roads. But demand for drilling, completion and other oilfield services is so high that companies are still finding a way to get the job done.

Activity statistics bear that out. Nickle's Energy Group's Rig Locator reveals that on Jan. 10, 723 of a total 769 drilling rigs in Western Canada were active (either drilling or moving between locations), for a utilization rate of 94 per cent, which represents an industry record. Alberta led the way with 540 of 576 rigs active, followed by B.C., which had 124 of a possible 129 rigs working during that period.

The service rig count has also soared, according to Nickle's data, with a utilization rate of 87 per cent during the day - with 832 rigs active out of 950 available. The service rig count was 713 for the same timeframe in 2005.

Soucy notes that some ice roads in the N.W.T. - especially where big equipment must cross large lakes - have been delayed, but adds that these roads usually aren't built until early January when the ice is thick enough.

Rene Amirault, vice-president of corporate development with oilfield services giant CCS Energy Trust, confirms the higher-than-expected temperatures so far haven't curtailed the company's field activities, but adds that weather is always on the radar screen.

"Our big concern is probably what's going to happen in March, because there's so much to be done and there's only so many service rigs available. What goes on out there if we have a warm March is probably the bigger issue than the weather today," he says.

"It all boils down to utilization - if (the drilling companies) can't get in to drill then we can't do completions or workovers on some of the wells if road bans are on. That directly impacts the explorers and producers, which ultimately impacts our well-servicing business," Amirault says.

In northeast B.C., it's also mostly been business as usual, reports Scott Ebert, president of Fort St. John-based Northern Snubbing Inc.

"It's been warmer than normal, but it's still really busy. We've mainly been working around the (Alberta-B.C.) border and around Fort St. John, and (the weather) hasn't been an issue at all - we're going flat out," he says.

Ebert notes that the province's oilpatch has become very active year-round, due in large part to improvements in road infrastructure over the last five years that allow heavy equipment to access more areas during the summer months.

Edmonton-based Banister Pipeline Construction Co., meanwhile, still hopes for a long, cold winter snap so it can take advantage of what's shaping up to be one of the busiest times for the pipeline construction industry in four years.

"We are doing a project right now for the (Devon Corp. and MEG Energy Corp.-owned) Access Pipeline at Lac La Biche, and there are some areas of swamp where we need a little colder weather than we're seeing now right now," says Banister president Jim Topping.

"It's probably causing us a one- to two-week delay on starting the work. Still, we're actually not in that bad of shape."

David Hyman, an analyst with Raymond James in Calgary, notes that 2005 was a record year for most in the oilfield services sector, and predicts more of the same this year.

"I think we'll see a lot of sequential records be broken as well - wells drilled, active rig count, utilization rates," Hyman says.

The analyst says weather is an "unavoidable" part of life in the Canadian oilpatch, but becomes more of a factor when industry activity is at a fevered pace.

Hyman also predicts energy services stocks, which made huge strides last year, will likely continue their run in 2006.

(John Ludwick can be reached at ludwick@businessedge.ca)