Shuttered junior gas company simply walked away from 4,700 wells, says Alberta Energy Regulator
The Alberta Energy Regulator says junior gas company Trident Exploration Corp. shut down abruptly Tuesday without responding to an order to properly manage its 4,700 wells — adding to the more than 3,000 orphan wells already awaiting remediation in the province.
Trident terminated 33 employees and 61 contractors on Tuesday, the company said in a news release.
The privately held Calgary-based company said its abandonment and reclamation obligations are estimated to be $329 million and it doesn't expect any financial recovery for shareholders or unsecured creditors.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/trident-exploration-shuts-down-1.5119125?cmp=rss
-------
Further in the article, it says that as of 2018, there were 90,000 idle wells in Alberta, allowed under provincial rules as long as they pay their leases annually. What should be done is every company pulling oil out of the ground should be mandated to put a portion of each barrel sold into a fund for clean-up. Unlike Norway, there is no national sovereign wealth fund in Canada and these companies are allowed to get away with raping the land and then shutting down without cleaning up their messes. It ends up on the backs of the taxpayer.