Eligible Requestors
Only individuals who meet the eligibility criteria may nominate a well or facility for closure. Eligible requesters are defined in section 3.016 of the Oil and Gas Conservation Rules and include the following:
- Landowners (for wells or facilities on private land)
- Councils of a band, as defined in the Indian Act (for wells or facilities on reserve land)
- Métis settlements (for wells or facilities on Métis settlement land)
- Government ministers responsible for the Public Lands Act (for wells or facilities on public land)
- Holders of certain dispositions issued under the Public Lands Administration Regulation (for wells or facilities on public land)
- Municipality (if the well or facility is on land owned by a municipality)
An eligible requester may only nominate wells or facilities situated on lands over which they have authority.
Eligible Sites
A well or facility in Alberta is eligible to be nominated for closure if it meets the criteria outlined in the Oil and Gas Conservation Rules, summarized below:
- It has been inactive or abandoned for five or more years.
- It is on lands over which the requester has authority (e.g., private lands for landowners, reserve lands for Indigenous requesters).
- It has not already been granted a reclamation certificate, and no active reclamation certificate application is pending.
- Its status is not “reclamation exempt.”
Reclamation exempt wells in Alberta are oil and gas sites abandoned before June 1, 1963 (private land/White Area) or August 15, 1978 (public land/Green Area). These sites do not require a reclamation certificate; however, operators retain liability for contamination. In addition, exemptions may be granted if a new overlapping activity makes reclamation of the old site impractical.
The closure nomination eligibility look up tool is currently unavailable. We expect it to be back online shortly.
In the meantime, if you would like to nominate a site or facility, please contact the Closure Nomination team at closure.nomination@aer.ca. Please include as much information about the location of the site or facility as possible, ideally the full legal surface land location (e.g. SW-01-011-01W4). Include any other pieces of information to help identify the correct site, like the municipality or company name.
