Updated June 2020
We are responsible for regulating the life cycle of oil, oil sands, natural gas, and coal projects in Alberta. As the single regulator for energy development in the province, we must ensure that development is carried out in a manner that protects public safety and the environment, while ensuring that the regulatory system is as efficient as possible. We make decisions regarding
- energy development applications;
- industry compliance, enforcement, and monitoring;
- project closure; and
- all other aspects of energy development under our jurisdiction.
Learn more about how we regulate energy development in Alberta.
What We Regulate
- More than 146 000 operating wells
- More than 433 000 km of pipelines (plus inspection/incident response support for 12 000 km regulated by the Alberta Utilities Commission)
- More than 21 000 gas facilities
- Over 30 000 oil facilities
- 8 operating oil sands mines
- 36 active thermal/enhanced in situ projects and over 230 active primary recovery in situ projects
- 16 experimenal in situ projects
- 4 active bitumen upgraders
- 9 producing coal mines
- 4 coal processing plants
We are also responsible for managing Alberta’s vast energy resources. Every year since 1961, we have prepared a report that provides information on the state of reserves and the supply and demand outlook for Alberta’s energy resources: Please see the current version of this report, Alberta’s Energy Reserves & Supply/Demand Outlook (ST98), for more details.
2019 Remaining Established Reserves
- 1.7 billion barrels of crude oil
- 162 billion barrels of crude bitumen
- 27.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, including coalbed methane
- 36.6 billion tons of coal
2019 Annual Production
- 176 million barrels of conventional crude oil
- 1.13 billion barrels of bitumen
- 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, including coalbed methane
- 21 million tons of coal