"There’s New Data On Alberta’s Massive Oil And Gas Cleanup Problem"

"Hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells dot the Albertan landscape. The province’s energy regulator just released new information about the time and money being spent to clean it all up".

"Alberta faces tens of billions of dollars in cleanup costs for oil and gas sites across the province, and perhaps hundreds of billions more if you count the oilsands mines in the north. It’s been a growing problem for years, as the number of inactive and orphan wells pile up.

Now the Alberta Energy Regulator has released what it calls its first annual liability management industry performance report, part of an effort to shed light on the problem and the progress in tackling it since the introduction of new rules and monitoring around the cleanup of old oil and gas sites. The report examines progress in 2022, the first year of the new policies.

According to the regulator, the number of inactive wells fell from 91,000 to 83,000 in 2022, a nine per cent reduction.

The devil, however, is in the details."

Drew Anderson reports for The Narwhal January 18, 2024.

Source: The Narwhal, 01/19/2024