Ranch Energy Bankruptcy Finalized, Dumping Another 401 Abandoned Oil Wells On BC Govt.
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But the curse is that Hadland and his father Austin, in a small but symbolic way as federal taxpayers, could wind up paying to decommission and restore some of the 401 orphan well sites and three facilities left by Calgary-based Ranch Energy, whose court-approved bankruptcy transaction closed on June 12.
That’s because $15 million in funding for B.C.’s orphan site reclamation fund comes from federal taxpayers, as part of a $1.7 billion economic stimulus package announced by the Trudeau government in April to clean up orphan and inactive oil and gas wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C.
The orphan fund, managed by the BC Oil and Gas Commission, is responsible for decommissioning and rehabilitating well sites whose owners have gone bankrupt or can’t be found. The addition of 401 Ranch orphan wells and three facilities, announced on June 17, more than doubles B.C.’s orphan well tally, bringing it to 770. That compares to 220 orphan wells in March 2017 — an increase of 250 per cent.
Nine wells from Fort Nelson-based Norcan Energy were also designated as orphans this month and are included in the new total, according to the commission. Hadland said he’s happy the restoration work on his father’s wells and other Ranch wells will finally take place. “But it shouldn’t be on our backs as individual taxpayers,” he told The Narwhal. “It should be on the backs of industry. And it’s not.” “The process is absolutely wrong. There should have been a fund set aside on every well so that when it came to the end of its term it would be totally rehabilitated by the industry that benefited. But there was no planning like that done at all.”
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https://thenarwhal.ca/ranch-energy-bankruptcy-401-orphan-wells-dumped-on-b-c-cleanup/
