CanElson Drilling Moves to the TSX

CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwire – Sept. 12, 2011) – CanElson Drilling Inc. (“CanElson” or the “Company”) (TSX VENTURE:CDI) announces that its common shares will commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) at the opening on September 13, 2011 and will be delisted from the TSX Venture Exchange at the same time. The Company’s common shares will continue to trade under the trading symbol “CDI”. The Company has 73,141,327 common shares issued and outstanding.

President and CEO Randy Hawkings stated “Listing on the TSX was a logical next step given the rapid growth of CanElson from 1 rig in December 2008 to 33 rigs (36 by January 2012) today. We envision that the TSX listing will increase the liquidity of the Company’s common shares and provide greater access to capital.”

Update

As at the date of this press release 100% of CanElson’s Canadian rig fleet is drilling and during the first two months of the third quarter CanElson’s Canadian rig fleet has operated at 77% utilization. The Company’s expectation for the remainder of the third quarter is full operating activity with all of the rigs contracted.

As of the date of this press release 90% of CanElson’s US rig fleet is drilling and during the first two months of the third quarter the rig fleet operated at 75% utilization which was negatively impacted by wet weather conditions in North Dakota. All of the rigs in the US are contracted and full operating activity is expected in west Texas as well as North Dakota for the remainder of the third quarter, subject to moving truck availability.

Given the present market demand for CanElson’s style of resource based drilling rigs, the Company expects to continue to have strong activity levels for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.

As part of the Company’s 2011 five rig construction program, the second rig was deployed to northern Alberta at the end of August. The third rig is expected to be deployed to the field by the end of September to northern Alberta. We expect the remaining two rigs from the 2011 rig construction program to be deployed as originally anticipated by November 2011 and January 2012, respectively.

CanElson is an Alberta, Canada corporation that is engaged in the manufacture, acquisition, operation and sale of drilling rigs into business relationships involving the Corporation for the oil and gas industry. The Corporation currently operates in the western Canadian sedimentary basin (the “WCSB”), the United States and Mexico. The Corporation’s WCSB operations are currently focused in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The United States operations are currently focused in the Permian Basin of West Texas and North Dakota. The Corporation’s Mexico operations are conducted through a joint venture Company, Diavaz CanElson de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. (“DCM” or the “Joint Venture”), of which CanElson holds a 50% ownership interest, and is currently focused in the Ebano-Panuco-Cacalilao fields of the Misantla-Tampico Basin of Mexico. At the date of this press release, CanElson was operating 33 rigs: 19 drilling rigs in the WCSB, 6 (net: 5) drilling rigs in Texas, 4 drilling rigs in North Dakota, 2 (net: 1) drilling rigs and 2 (net: 1) service rigs in the Misantla-Tampico Basin of Mexico. The Corporation’s owned drilling rig fleet had an average age of less than 5 years, an average total vertical depth rating of 3700 metres and all rigs are capable of drilling horizontal and resource play wells.

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains certain statements or disclosures relating to CanElson that are based on the expectations of CanElson as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to CanElson which may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. In particular, this press release makes reference to the Company’s shares trading on the TSX effective September 13, 2011; operating 36 rigs by January 2012; timing of deployment of the remaining three rigs of the Company’s five rig construction program; expectation of full operating activity in all of its regions; and the expectation for strong activity levels to continue for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012, all of which statements contain forward looking information. Many factors could cause the performance or achievement by CanElson to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward looking information. CanElson’s Annual Information Form and other documents filed with securities regulatory authorities (accessible through the SEDAR website www.sedar.com) describe the risks, material assumptions and other factors that could influence actual results and which are incorporated herein by reference. CanElson disclaims any intention or obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be expressly required by applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CanElson Drilling Inc.
Randy Hawkings
President and CEO
(403) 266-3922

CanElson Drilling Inc.
Robert Skilnick
Chief Financial Officer
(403) 266-3922

CanElson Drilling Inc.
700, 808 – 4th Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3E8