Safety inspections are required on inactive Alberta oil and gas wells. Thousands are overdue
More than 10 per cent of the approximately 75,000 inactive oil and gas wells in Alberta are overdue for inspection, according to data from the provincial energy regulator compiled by The Narwhal.
The number of wells overdue for inspection has more than doubled since 2018, to more than 7,500.
Inactive wells no longer produce oil or gas but have not yet been permanently sealed, nor has the land around them been cleaned up https://thenarwhal.ca/report-buried-by-alberta-government-reveals-mounting-evidence-that-oil-and-gas-wells-arent-reclaimed-in-the-long-run/. Alberta has no timelines on how long wells can sit inactive but does require them to be monitored by the companies that own them, with results reported back to the regulator.
Inspections are supposed to be carried out to check for risks to the public and environment https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-energy-regulator-list/, including excess pressure, leaks, wellhead failures and other problems.
As of Aug. 8, there were 7,596 wells identified on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s inactive well list https://www.aer.ca/regulating-development/rules-and-directives/directives/directive-013 that were overdue for inspections out of a total of 73,989 inactive wells covered under what’s known as Directive 013 https://static.aer.ca/prd/documents/directives/Directive013.pdf, which sets out the rules for suspending inactive wells. |Read more https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-energy-regulator-well-inspections/|