Clean energy opportunities are a win for Alberta’s municipalities: they create jobs, attract investment and increase quality of life for residents.

This primer is a tool for landowners who find themselves with inactive, suspended, abandoned or orphaned oil or gas wells on their property. It outlines what a typical reclamation process should look like, and what issues may arise if the reclamation process does not go as planned.

Increasingly, Albertans have heard about the number of oil and gas wells that sit inactive, neglected, or potentially orphaned in this province. Often this issue is discussed in an abstract way, mainly focusing on the financial implications for the province or referencing liabilities that companies do not have the funds to properly care for, which raises questions about whether some of these wells will be cleaned up at all. 

With more interest on what a decarbonizing economy could mean for Canada, the potential climate liability of Alberta's oilsands has become the new focus in an longstanding debate around the industry. To help ground the discussion, the Pembina Institute has compiled recent research and analysis into a fact sheet.