EnCana has reached its highest level of production in over 30 years in the Weyburn area.

In November, 2004, EnCana had produced 25,000 barrels of oil per day and this year they have been able to produce 30,000 barrels of oil per day.

"This is a production rate that we haven't seen since 1971," said operation supervisor Darcy Cretin.

The reason why the production has been up in the fields is a combination of two factors. The carbon dioxide flood has been working well and getting the expected production, and the EnCana drilling program has been effective.

This year, EnCana have drilled 55 new wells in the Weyburn field and they have been getting good production out of those wells.

A report was also released of the top producing wells in Western Canada and some of the Weyburn area wells ranked very high.

"It looks at the most productive wells in Western Canada in the last two years and three of the top 18 wells have been drilled in the Weyburn unit," Cretin said.

They also benefited from Apache's CO2 project because the company who was contracted to supply CO2 for the project, Dakota Gasification Company, has room to expand its capacity, so EnCana will be able to increase their CO2 from the original 95 million cubic feet per day to 125 million cubic feet per day.

"They are still doing some work to expand their system so it will be later in 2006 when we get the full amount," Cretin said.

EnCana is also in the stages of planning for next year. They are hoping to put in a CO2 compressor and a water injection pump in the Weyburn unit.