Gas-oil ratios: an "oil well" is not the same everywhere
November 2026Illustrative, not for reserves or investment decisions
The gas-oil ratio (GOR) is how much gas a well makes for each barrel of oil, in standard cubic feet per barrel (scf/bbl). It drives pipeline needs, flaring and economics, and it differs a lot between provinces and well types. We computed it for every well that reported oil in the last 12 months (October 2025 to September 2026) as its total gas volume divided by its total oil volume.
1. The numbers
| Group | Oil wells | Median GOR, wells that report gas (scf/bbl) | Wells with no gas reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta crude oil | 34,833 | 1,896 | 1% |
| Alberta bitumen | 12,760 | 352 | 2% |
| Saskatchewan oil | 30,930 | 693 | 6% |
| BC oil | 758 | 1,885 | 0% |
Alberta crude-oil wells have a median ratio of 1,896 scf/bbl, about 2.7 times Saskatchewan's 693. BC oil wells (758 of them) look like Alberta crude oil at 1,885. Alberta wells licensed for bitumen sit at 352, far lower.
2. The spread is wide
Within each group the ratio spans two orders of magnitude. 41% of Alberta crude-oil wells make more than 3,000 scf/bbl, against 14% in Saskatchewan. A median hides this, so a "typical" oil well in a province is a poor stand-in for any one well.
What this means in practice
- Do not carry a gas-oil ratio from one province or well type to another; check which group your wells belong to.
- Cleaning the licence substance (crude oil vs bitumen) before averaging changes Alberta's result a lot.
- A well with oil but no reported gas is more often a reporting or tie-in matter than a real zero.
Limits
- Ratios use reported volumes as they appear in the public files. Gas may be reported at a different point (for example solution gas at the battery) than oil.
- The median is taken over wells that reported gas; wells with no gas are shown separately.
- Alberta wells were grouped by licence substance (crude bitumen against everything else), not by reservoir.
- One 12-month window, and rates as of the files downloaded in November 2026.
Reproduce it
Code: github.com/Jay-Kimani/TidyWells, posts/cache_matrix.py, posts/wells_study.py, posts/dq_study.py and posts/gen_posts2.py. Download the files yourself from Petrinex and the BC Energy Regulator; we do not host the data.
Illustrative only. Not for reserves reporting or investment decisions.
Contains information licensed from Petrinex public data (Alberta, Saskatchewan) and the BC Energy Regulator; Crown copyright of the provinces is acknowledged. Tidywells is not affiliated with any regulator.