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Decades of oil and gas exploration have given Saskatchewan something increasingly valuable beyond petroleum: an enormous body of subsurface knowledge, an experienced drilling and service sector, established infrastructure and a regulatory system built around putting wells thousands of metres underground.
Now those capabilities are being redeployed to develop entirely different resources, particularly helium, lithium and naturally occurring hydrogen.
What makes Saskatchewan especially interesting is that these industries do not require the province to build a new resource-development ecosystem from scratch. Many rely on the same geology, drilling contractors, seismic techniques, well logs, reservoir engineers and subsurface expertise developed through generations of oil and gas activity.
The result could be the beginning of a broader Saskatchewan subsurface economy in which drilling a well no longer necessarily means looking for oil or natural gas.
A $15.9-Million Signal From the Crown
A significant milestone came in June 2026 when Saskatchewan held its first competitive Crown public offering specifically for helium and associated gases.
The offering generated $15.9 million, with 15 permits covering more than 267,000 hectares in southern Saskatchewan awarded through the process.
Until recently, Crown helium and associated-gas rights were generally obtained on a first-come, first-served basis. Increased industry interest prompted the province to move toward competitive bidding, similar to the process already used for petroleum, natural gas and other subsurface resources.
Importantly, Saskatchewan defines associated gases to include naturally occurring non-hydrocarbon gases such as helium and hydrogen.
That means the new Crown tenure system could support not only Saskatchewan’s growing helium sector but also an emerging natural-hydrogen industry.
Helium: Already Becoming an Industry
Of the three resources, helium is the most commercially advanced.
Saskatchewan produced approximately 4.8 million cubic metres of helium in 2025-26, according to the provincial government. The province estimates it currently accounts for roughly three per cent of global helium supply and has set a goal of reaching 10 per cent by 2030.
Helium is much more than a gas used in balloons. It is considered a critical mineral and is essential for applications including MRI machines, semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, defence and scientific research.
Companies such as North American Helium have already developed dedicated wells and processing facilities in Saskatchewan, creating what could become an increasingly important North American helium production hub.
The connection to the oilpatch is obvious.
Exploring for helium requires many of the same skills as exploring for hydrocarbons: seismic interpretation, drilling, casing, cementing, pressure testing, reservoir analysis and surface processing.
The target resource may be different, but much of the expertise is the same.
Lithium: Mining Through a Well
Saskatchewan’s emerging lithium industry may be an even clearer example of oilfield technology being repurposed.
Instead of conventional hard-rock mining, several Saskatchewan projects are targeting lithium contained in deep underground brines.
Wells are drilled into formations containing lithium-rich water. The brine is pumped to surface, where direct lithium extraction, or DLE, technology is used to remove the lithium. The remaining brine can then be reinjected underground.
Prairie Lithium’s project in southeast Saskatchewan illustrates the crossover. The company uses conventional oil and gas drilling and completion techniques to access lithium-bearing brines roughly two kilometres underground.
Its first commercial production phase has received provincial approval, with an initial DLE unit designed to produce approximately 150 tonnes per year of lithium carbonate equivalent.
Grounded Lithium is also advancing its Kindersley Lithium Project in west-central Saskatchewan, working with Denison Mines to evaluate the technical and economic potential of its resource.
For Saskatchewan’s oilfield services sector, this could create an entirely new customer base.
A drilling company, geologist, reservoir engineer, well-logging contractor or fluid-handling specialist that once worked almost exclusively for oil and gas producers may increasingly find opportunities in lithium development.
Natural Hydrogen Could Be the Wild Card
Natural hydrogen remains much earlier-stage, but potentially even more transformative.
Sometimes called geologic or white hydrogen, natural hydrogen occurs underground rather than being manufactured through electrolysis or from natural gas.
Researchers and exploration companies are investigating geological processes capable of producing hydrogen naturally and determining whether it can accumulate in commercial quantities.
Saskatchewan has quickly become one of Canada’s most closely watched jurisdictions.
MAX Power Mining reported in early 2026 that drilling at its Lawson prospect near Central Butte encountered what the company describes as Canada’s first confirmed subsurface natural-hydrogen system.
The company has since moved into additional drilling designed to determine the size, continuity and production potential of the discovery.
That distinction is important.
Finding hydrogen underground does not automatically mean Saskatchewan has a commercial hydrogen industry. Companies must still demonstrate sustained flow rates, reservoir pressure, sufficient volumes and competitive development costs.
Nevertheless, the early results have generated significant interest.
Helium has also been detected alongside hydrogen in some Saskatchewan exploration wells, raising the possibility that future projects could potentially target more than one valuable gas from the same geological system.
Saskatchewan’s Oilpatch Knowledge Is a Major Advantage
Perhaps Saskatchewan’s greatest advantage is not drilling equipment or infrastructure.
It is information.
Thousands of wells drilled during decades of petroleum exploration have generated an enormous database of well logs, core samples, seismic surveys, pressure measurements, water analyses and geological maps.
Information originally gathered to answer one question — Where is the oil and gas? — can now be re-examined to answer completely different questions.
Where are lithium-rich brines?
Where are helium-bearing formations?
Where could natural hydrogen accumulate?
Where are the reservoir rocks and geological traps capable of containing these resources?
Saskatchewan has effectively spent generations conducting a massive geological investigation of its subsurface.
Emerging-resource companies can build upon that knowledge rather than starting with a blank map.
From Oil Province to Subsurface Resource Province
The development of helium, lithium and natural hydrogen does not mean Saskatchewan is abandoning oil and gas.
In many ways, the opposite is true.
Oil and gas development helped give Saskatchewan the expertise needed to develop the next generation of subsurface resources.
The province already has drilling contractors, geologists, reservoir engineers, service companies, seismic expertise, regulatory experience and decades of accumulated geological data.
Those capabilities are now becoming transferable assets.
A rig that once drilled exclusively for oil could drill a lithium-brine well.
An exploration team that once searched for natural gas may look for helium or hydrogen.
An oilfield service company may discover that its next major customer operates in a resource sector that barely existed in Saskatchewan a decade ago.
The $15.9-million Crown helium and associated-gases offering in June 2026 may eventually be viewed as more than another land sale.
It could be remembered as one of the early signals that Saskatchewan’s underground economy was beginning to broaden.
Saskatchewan already knows how to explore and develop what lies beneath the Prairies.
The opportunity now is to determine just how many different resources that expertise can unlock.
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