I'd particularly like to see that applied to orphaned well cleanup, which is a real problem out here. As a taxpayer I have zero interest in picking up the tab for it when an O/G company defaults on their responsibility. Make the directors fucking pay for it, and if they don't, put them in jail. If they want to reduce the risk of that happening, they can put the money in trust before they start drilling. But enough of that shit.
I'm not sure sure how familiar you are with AB energy sector Regulatory history & where the province is today vs a 10 years ago vs 30 years before that. The media has a knack of distorting reality or steering opinions by selective evidence or sheer incompetence. And the O&G sector is unique in many ways that dont align to other business facets. I'm not defending it, I'm just providing background.
First off, the Directors are long gone because the companies are bankrupt & with that all forms of financial liabilities. Yes, the well didint get abandoned, but also, bank didnt get their loans repayed, shareholders took a bath, the Crown or Uncle Tom, didnt get their royalty payment, Aunt Jill didnt get her surface lease rental check, any O&G partners in the well (extremely common) are still stick holding their share of the bag. So there is no Director/Company blood to let at least under legal bankruptcy. But I like your thinking. Say... if the government (Directors) creates yet another massive financial boondoggle of behalf of public taxpayers, maybe consequences should apply? Is that loan to a foreign country ever going to get repaid? I mean 1$ to this vs 1$ to orphan wells is the same dollar right? I've seen numbers like if entire orphan well bill was paid today it works out to $345 per AB resident. Not chump change & certainly a distasteful expense. My point is put that $-amount in the same context of what Joe Average pays in annual taxes. Do we have the same granularity & confidence of where the big money goes?
The orphan well issue in Alberta is/was driven by a combination of systemic regulatory loopholes, historical economic downturns, structural corporate dynamics, and inadequate financial security mechanisms. At its core, a well becomes an "orphan" when the company holding its licence goes bankrupt or insolvent, leaving behind unperformed cleanup obligations with no legal owner to cover the bill. All I can tell you is there is more information to understand & digest, most all of it in the public domain. For numerical context ~470,000 wells have been drilled in AB. Designated Orphan Wells account for roughly 1.5%-1.6% of these in Alberta's entire drilling history. Designated orphans make up ~8% of all inactive wells in AB. The remaining 92% of inactive wells are still held on company balance sheets under mandatory annual cleanup targets set by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). From spud to remediation, all wells fall into very specifically defined categories, all with responsibility levels, with clocks running & enforecement.
In AB, when Company A acquires assets from Company B, A inherits the end-of-life abandonment, remediation, and reclamation liabilities for all transferred assets, regardless of whether those wells are producing, suspended, or inactive. This extends to not just wells but pipelines, infrastructure, surface & subsurface. But AER Approval is Mandatory: Well licences do not transfer upon closing of a private deal. The AER must formally approve the licence transfer application before the legal obligation moves from B to A. Holistic Licensee Assessment (Directive 088): Rather than using the old formulaic Liability Management Rating (LMR), the AER evaluates both companies using a Holistic Assessment. They evaluate Company A’s financial health, magnitude of existing vs. new liabilities, remaining asset lifespan, and operational history. Security Deposit Conditions: If the AER determines that taking on Company B’s liabilities puts Company A at a high risk of defaulting or failing to cover closure costs, the AER may require Company A to put up a substantial security deposit (cash or letter of credit) before approving the transfer. If Company A cannot provide this, the transfer will be denied, leaving the liability with Company B. O&G compnies are compelled under law to follow a specifc path towards remediation.
Anyway maybe enough information to get you Googling.
