Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced Monday that more government money – in the form of a loan – will be directed toward Alberta’s orphan well problem, which Energy Minister Sonya Savage dubbed a “growing concern.”
The Government https://loansolution.com/installment-loans-ny/ of Alberta will loan the province’s Orphan Well Association – which is funded by levies charged to industry – $100 million.
The news comes as a growing number of Albertans have voiced concerns over the potential for the province’s growing inventory of inactive wells to become a massive public liability, raising alarms that the costly price tag for well cleanup could increasingly be shifted to taxpayers.
In recent years, a rapidly increasing number of old oil and gas wells have become “orphans” as companies facing bankruptcy have walked away from their liabilities, either as a result of facing an economic slump in the province, or as savvy business decisions to trade away costly liabilities without punishment – what the Globe and Mail described as a “brisk trade in junk assets.”