Paramount has formally sanctioned the Sinclair Montney development, marking the transition from appraisal success to long-life manufacturing execution. Management described Sinclair as a high-rate, low-cost natural gas project, underpinned by strong extended flow-test results from the first two appraisal wells and supported by a fully integrated facilities, drilling, and egress strategy.
The first phase is designed for a sales gas plateau exceeding 50,000 boe/d, with that level expected to be sustained for more than 20 years — a clear signal that Sinclair is being built as a cornerstone Montney asset, not a short-cycle optimization project.
Strategic Context: Scale, Control, and Egress Locked In
Sinclair benefits from ~167 contiguous sections of wholly owned Montney rights, giving Paramount rare surface and subsurface control. That land position supports long laterals, pad drilling, and centralized infrastructure — all critical to sustaining low unit costs over multiple decades.
Commercially, Paramount has already secured 335 MMcf/d of firm sales egress starting in Q4 2027, fully aligned with the planned gas plant start-up. Long-lead equipment has been ordered, removing a major execution bottleneck and reinforcing the company’s confidence in both timing and scale.
At start-up, Paramount plans to have 24.0 net Montney wells drilled, completed, and ready to flow, minimizing ramp-up risk and enabling immediate utilization of plant capacity.
Facility Permit: A High-Throughput, Sour-Gas-Capable Plant
The Sinclair Gas Plant facility licence confirms the scale implied by management commentary.
Key facility characteristics:
- Design capacity: aligned with a plant capable of handling up to ~400 MMcf/d of raw gas
- Facility category: D400 gas processing plant (≥1 t/d sulphur inlet)
- Sweetening: Regenerative system
- Sulphur recovery: Claus-based process with ~98% recovery efficiency
- Acid gas disposal: Subsurface injection
- Flaring / venting: None during normal operations
Compression & Equipment Profile
The permit reveals a large compression footprint, consistent with high-rate Montney production and long-term throughput:
- Total compressors: 14 units
- Gas-driven compressors: 8 units
- Electric compressors: 6 units
- Total installed compression: ~30.6 MW
- Largest units:
- Multiple 4.1 MW gas-driven compressors
- Additional 3.6 MW and 1.7 MW gas units
- Electric compression is used strategically for efficiency and emissions control.
This equipment mix signals a centralized, high-utilization facility, designed to operate continuously at scale rather than flexing around short-term drilling cycles.
Well Permits: Pad-Based Execution Already Underway
The Sinclair well permit inventory reinforces the shift from appraisal to development.
Permit Depth (CY / PY-1 / PY-2)
- 2026: 5 permits
- 2025: 3 permits
- 2024: 2 permits
- Total (3-year window): 10 permits
This multi-year permit stack supports a measured but deliberate ramp, aligned with infrastructure timing rather than opportunistic drilling.
Activity Signal
- 21 permits show recorded activity dates, indicating active progression through drilling, completion, or related operations rather than dormant inventory.
Surface Consolidation
- 8 unique surface locations across the permit set
- This equates to 8 well pads, confirming pad-based Montney development, not single-well step-outs or scattered leasing.
Rig & Contractor Signal
Early execution is already visible in the contractor data:
- Primary drilling contractor: Ensign
- Most active rig: Ensign 879
- Additional Ensign rigs appear across the permit set
The repeat use of the same contractor and rig family suggests early standardization, which typically precedes a broader factory drilling cadence.
What This Tells Us
Sinclair is being built deliberately as a full-stack Montney manufacturing project:
- Appraisal success immediately translated into sanction
- Facilities sized for long-life throughput, not short-term debottlenecking
- Compression and sulphur handling designed for sour, high-rate gas
- Permits consolidated into pads with visible drilling activity
- Contractor consistency emerging ahead of a larger multi-year program
In short, Sinclair is no longer an appraisal story. It is a sanctioned, infrastructure-led Montney development, positioned to deliver durable volumes into secured egress for decades.
