Alberta Oil/Gas Industry Paid Less Than 4% Of 2019 Rent Owed To Landowners; 2% Paid Since 2010

[hatrack]

The Alberta government failed to recoup more than $8 million in land rents it paid to landowners on behalf of oil and gas companies last year, data obtained by The Narwhal via a freedom of information request reveals. Industry paid back just $302,000, or less than four per cent of what was owed in 2019 — a continuation of a trend that has seen companies rack up nearly $30 million in rent debt to the government since 2010.

“If companies can’t afford to pay landowners to operate on private land, that’s a flashing red light that something is terribly wrong,” Regan Boychuk of the Alberta Liabilities Disclosure Project told The Narwhal. “There’s no effort afoot to solve this problem,” he added.

Companies are supposed to pay rent to landowners when they drill a well on their land. If a company doesn’t pay, a landowner can apply to the Government of Alberta’s Surface Rights Board for compensation. The government is then tasked with recouping that money from delinquent oil and gas companies.

But data shows it is seldom successful. Since 2010, Alberta oil and gas companies have racked up nearly $30 million in debt to the Alberta government in this way. Data obtained through freedom of information requests shows only $638,000, or just over two per cent, has been recovered over that period.

EDIT

https://thenarwhal.ca/alberta-8-million-tab-land-rent-left-unpaid-oil-gas-companies-2019/

[applegrove]

1. And there are 92,000 abandoned wells that have not been decommisioned.

There was a loophole in provincial regulations. Big oil went right through it. It costs $200,000 to $500,000 to fix each one.