April 2024 Regulatory Newsletter

April 2024

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AB: ETS Permission Suspension for Outstanding Leaseholder Debt

On April 11, 2024, the Alberta Energy announced, effective immediately, a collection process for outstanding debts owed by Alberta’s energy sector to Alberta Energy and Minerals.

The Crown may use one or more of the available remedies to collect any outstanding debts owed. These remedies may include, but are not limited to, cancellation of an agreement, the suspension of a company’s ability, within the Electronic Transfer System (ETS), to post or bid in a public land sale, transfer mineral agreements, conduct mineral land searches, obtain a Geothermal or Carbon Capture lease agreement, obtain Crown Mineral Authorizations, or be granted any agreement extensions.

The cancellation of any mineral agreement occurring as a result of outstanding debt, will not relieve the lessee’s obligations to pay that debt.

Additional information can be found: Information Letter 2024-11

AB: Conditional Adjustment of Reclamation Liability (CARL) Program and New Edition of Directive 088 and Manual 023

On April 9, 2024, the AER announced the implementation of the Conditional Adjustment of Reclamation Liability (CARL) Program (previously referred to as the Reclamation Liability Reduction Program in Bulletin 2023-37), to allow for conditional adjustments of the liability estimates used in the AER’s liability management programs.

Once closure and reclamation activities for a site have been completed, it may take several years before vegetation is fully established and the site becomes eligible for a reclamation certificate.

The CARL program will allow licensees to request a temporary conditional adjustment of the liability estimate for a site once reclamation work has been completed but before a reclamation certificate is issued.

The CARL requests are accepted through OneStop. The associated reclamation liability estimate of the licence will be adjusted to $5000 for cultivated land or $9000 for all other land types for a period of five years or until a reclamation certificate is obtained, whichever occurs first. A one time request for a single extension of two years must be submitted before the end of the five-year timeframe.

Details of the CARL program are now available in a new edition of Directive 088: Licensee Life-Cycle Managemen t and Manual 023: Licensee Life-Cycle Management.

Additional information can be found: Bulletin 2024-11

AB: Directive 055 Storage Requirements for the Upstream Petroleum Industry

Effective May 6, 2024, Directive 55 also applies to geothermal resource development.

AB: Increased Risk of Wildfire

Alberta is experiencing another extremely dry wildfire season, and historically, most fires related to the energy industry in Alberta occur from April through June. These fires are usually due to flaring operations, inadequately extinguished old burn/brush piles, and hot vehicle exhausts, including exhaust from off-highway vehicles.

Proactive fire control measures should be in place as required under the Forest and Prairie Protection Act and associated regulations, including the AER’s Directive 060: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring, Incinerating, and Venting and Directive 071: Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Additional information can be found: Bulletin 2024-12

SK: PNG034 Update

On April 19, 2024, the ER released the updated version of version of PNG034: Determination and Submission of Gas Oil Ratio.

The revised version features the following updates:

• Detailed procedure on how to accurately determine gas oil ratio (GOR);

• Example on how to submit GOR applications;

• Examples on how to correctly calculate produced gas for non-heavy and heavy oil

wells.

Additional information can be found: BT2024-003

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