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In Alberta, we live by a simple rule: if energy companies are going to profit from the province's energy resources, they must be responsible and properly abandon, remediate, and reclaim their sites.

As the regulator of one of the world's largest and oldest oil and gas industries, we work with companies to help manage energy development to make sure they are prepared to meet their obligations at the end of a project's life. Sometimes, we must manage the consequences of companies not being able to meet their responsibilities to safely abandon and reclaim their energy development sites.

We continue to develop innovative approaches, programs, and processes (listed below) to manage these liabilities and risks while supporting economic development in the province. Our approach to managing liability was built to balance multiple interests: environmental protection, public safety, landowner interests, investment, royalties, jobs, and market volatility.

We also collaborate with jurisdictions across North America and the globe that face the same problems, and we're working together to find solutions.

 

 

Related Information

Liability Management Programs and Processes

The area-based closure program encourages operators to work together on closing oil and gas infrastructure. The voluntary program benefits industry by saving them money – pilot programs have shown cost savings of up to 40 per cent – and benefits operators and Albertans by reducing the liabilities associated with inactive sites.

Learn more about the area-based closure program.

Our Licensee Liability Rating (LLR) Program is designed to ensure that companies—not Albertans—face the costs of abandoning oil and gas wells, facilities, and pipelines, and reclaiming the associated sites. The program is based on a comparison of assets (production) to liabilities (abandonment and reclamation costs). When a company's liabilities outweigh its assets, the company must provide us with financial security for the difference to help mitigate the risks posed by the company.

These payments help ensure that companies have a plan to meet their abandonment, remediation, and reclamation obligations; if they don't meet their obligations, the funds are forfeited and used towards the cleanup of the company's sites.

A company's LLR contributes to its license management rating (LMR), which is a ratio of the company's assets to its liabilities that is used to assess the company's ability to meet its closure obligations.

Requirements, Forms, and Guides
Directive 006: Licensee Liability Rating (LLR) Program and Licence Transfer Process sets out licence transfer requirements and the methodology for calculating deemed assets and liabilities within the LLR program.

Directive 011: Licensee Liability Rating (LLR) Program - Updated Industry Parameters and Liability Costs provides updated industry parameters and regional abandonment and reclamation costs used in calculating liability under the program.

Directive 068: AER Security Deposits lists updates and consolidates our liability management security deposit requirements.

Our Large Facility Liability Management Program (LFP) helps protect Albertans from the costs to abandon and reclaim large upstream oil and gas facilities, such as sour gas plants, straddle plants, and in situ oil sands plants. Details on the types of facilities included in this program are available in Appendix 1 of Directive 024: Large Facility Liability Management Program. A company is responsible for paying its percentage of any LFP orphan levy administered by us because facilities in this program are not subject to the annual orphan fund levy administered by the Orphan Well Association (see Other Liability Management Processes, below).

A company's LFP rating contributes to its LMR, as defined above.

Requirements, Forms, and Guides

Directive 024: Large Facility Liability Management Program sets out our requirements for liability management of sulphur recovery gas plants, standalone straddle plants, and in situ oil sands central processing facilities with a minimum production capacity of 5000 cubic metres per day of bitumen. Appendix 1 provides details on the types of facilities included in this program.

Directive 068: AER Security Deposits lists updates and consolidates our liability management security deposit requirements.

Directive 024: Appendix 6: Facility Netback Calculation Form [PDF] must be used by companies to report a facility netback, which is used in asset calculations. We will not accept any modifications to the wording of this document.

Large Facility Program (LFP) List (May 2016) [XLS] provides a full list of facilities subject to Directive 024 requirements.

When companies that own coal or oil sands mines cannot afford to abandon, remediate, and reclaim them, the Mine Financial Security Program (MFSP) helps to protect Albertans from bearing the costs of project closure. If a company defaults, the MFSP and its series of security deposits are used to abandon, remediate, and reclaim the company's mine.

Learn more about the MFSP and how it helps companies manage their mine liabilities, and find program requirements, forms, and guides.

Our Oilfield Waste Liability (OWL) Program helps protect Albertans and the Orphan Well Association from the costs to abandon, remediate, and reclaim oilfield waste management facilities. Examples of these facilities include oilfield waste processing facilities, surface facilities associated with oilfield water disposal wells, and transfer stations.

A company's OWL rating contributes to its LMR, as defined above.

Requirements, Forms, and Guides
Directive 075: Oilfield Waste Liability (OWL) Program sets out our requirements for liability management of oilfield waste management facilities and associated wells and pipelines. Appendix 1 provides details on the types of facilities included in this program.

Directive 068: AER Security Deposits lists updates and consolidates our liability management security deposit requirements.

Directive 075: Appendix 6: Facility Netback Calculation Form [PDF] [DOC] must be used by companies to report a waste management facility netback, which is used in asset calculations. We will not accept any modifications to the wording of this document.

AER Approved Oilfield Waste Management Facilities list (June 2015) [PDF] provides a full list of waste management facilities subject to Directive 075 requirements. Note: Any approval that is not on the list is excluded from the OWL program because of the type or status of the facility.

Orphan Well Association

Established in the 1990s, the Orphan Well Association (OWA) is a nonprofit association that manages the abandonment, remediation, and reclamation of orphaned oil and gas wells, pipelines, facilities, and associated sites should a company responsible for these projects go bankrupt.

We work closely with the OWA to ensure that Albertans never have to pay the costs of closure for these projects. Under the Oil and Gas Conservation Act we issue an annual orphan levy to oil and gas companies in the province and transfer the funds to the OWA's operating budget. Learn more about the orphan levy.


Site-Specific Liability Assessments

Companies must conduct these assessments to estimate the cost to suspend, abandon, remediate, and reclaim certain energy sites in the LLR program and all sites in the LFP and OWL program. Companies must conduct this assessment every five years (unless required otherwise) if we have issued a licence for

  • facilities in the LFP,
  • facilities in the OWL program,
  • gas processing and gas fractioning plants in the LLR program,
  • a request for LLR variation, and
  • potential problem sites in the LLR program identified by us.

Requirements, Forms, and Guides
Directive 001: Requirements for Site-Specific Liability Assessments in Support of the AER's Liability Management Programs sets out our requirements for site-specific liability assessments to estimate the cost to suspend, abandon, remediate, or reclaim a site.

Directive 001: Appendix 2: Form 001-A to Form 001-F [PDF] [DOC] must be used by companies to update cost estimates for suspension and abandonment and for remediation and reclamation. We will not accept any modifications to the wording of these documents.