A recent decision out of the Alberta Court of Appeal found that as soon as a company handed over their investigative reports to regulators in connection with a pipeline incident, privilege over the reports was lost....more
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has confirmed that the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., 2019 SCC 5 [Redwater], applies in Saskatchewan. The Court of Appeal also affirmed...more
As discussed in our previous blog post, Unpaid Municipal Taxes Will Impact New AER Licenses and License Transfers, the Alberta Minister of Energy released Ministerial Order 043/2023 (the Order) on March 16, 2023. The Order...more
The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan has rejected another attempt by a rural municipality to gain priority in an oil and gas receivership. This follows the recent Alberta Decision in Orphan Well Association v Trident...more
On March 20, 2023, the Alberta Minister of Energy, Peter Guthrie, released ministerial order 043/2023 (the Order). The Order, authorized pursuant to the Responsible Energy Development Act, requires the Alberta Energy...more
Two recent insolvencies have resulted in the number of orphaned wells and facilities in Saskatchewan ballooning to over 4000. To reduce the burden on the Saskatchewan orphan fund, The Oil and Gas Tenure Registry Regulations...more
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) is continuing to revise and supplement its holistic approach to regulating. The AER released revisions to Manual 023 effective May 3, 2022, which supplements Directive 088: Licensee...more
On January 25, 2022, Alberta Energy issued Mineral Rights Information Bulletin 2022-02 (Bulletin) setting out guidance for acquiring deep geothermal resource leases for stand-alone geothermal operations in Alberta....more
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has released Directive 088: Licensee Life-Cycle Management, which finalizes the draft Licensee Life-Cycle Management Directive (Draft LLCM Directive) for energy infrastructure and sites...more
The Government of Saskatchewan has recently implemented a number of regulatory changes to assist energy projects. These changes further expand and refine the Ministry of Energy and Resources 2019 Petroleum Innovation...more
Nearly a year ago, the Government of Alberta announced its new Liability Management Plan. Through this plan, the Alberta Government provided the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) with additional tools to ensure that sites are...more
The Alberta Energy Regulator introduced the proposed Manual XXX: Contamination Management on July 7, 2021. This manual is intended to assist companies in understanding the requirements and expectations under the Remediation...more
In our March 2021 blog on the difference between Alberta and Saskatchewan's approach to Oil and Gas liability management, we commented on the differing approaches to liability management introduced in each province following...more
Recent information provided by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) in its Licensee Capability Assessment: What We Heard document and draft Licensee Life-Cycle Management Directive (Draft LLCM Directive) provides guidance for...more
On April 7, 2021, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) released a revised Directive 067: Eligibility Requirements for Acquiring and Holding Energy Licenses and Approvals, which is designed to enhance its ability to ensure that...more
Following the Redwater decision (Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd., 2019 SCC 5), and the steadily increasing number of orphaned oil and gas sites, governments have been evaluating opportunities to modify their...more
Amendments to the Oil and Gas Conservation Rules and Pipeline Rules to advance the Government of Alberta's new Liability Management Framework and address Alberta's inventory of abandoned wells, facilities and pipelines came...more
The New Energy Economy Series -
Following its recent announcement of A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy, an accelerated climate plan for Canada, the Government of Canada released the Hydrogen Strategy for Canada:...more
Increasing Interest in Hydrogen in Canada and Alberta -
Hydrogen has gained the attention of Canadian policy makers and industry players. Notably, the Canadian government announced in June 2020 an upcoming national...more
In June, the Canadian government announced that it would be unveiling a national hydrogen strategy, which is now expected to be released this fall. Alberta's Industrial Heartland Hydrogen Task Force, a group of business,...more
This is the second in a two-part series on wellsite repurposing projects in the Canadian oilpatch. Part one looked at the background and advantages of repurposing projects....more
On September 18, 2020, the British Columbia government announced that the first half of a $100-million fund earmarked for cleaning up dormant wells has been disbursed. The Dormant Sites Reclamation Program is dedicated to...more
This is the first in a two-part series on wellsite repurposing projects in the Canadian oilpatch. Part one provides background and context to the emergence of repurposing projects. Part two will look at challenges,...more
On July 30, 2020, the Government of Alberta announced that it will introduce a new oil and gas Liability Management Framework over the coming months. The framework is intended to accelerate the responsible reclamation of oil...more
On July 29, 2020, the Alberta Utilities Commission (AUC) released its discussion paper exploring the question of the extent to which on-site generators should be permitted to self-supply power and export excess energy...more