Landowners continue to worry about abandoned wells, but the topic has barely been addressed during the campaign
Millions of outstanding tax payments have been written off by rural municipalities with hundreds of millions owing. Landowners have seen surface lease payments unilaterally diminished and, in many cases, not paid at all.Tag Archives oil and gas industry
Alta.’s oil tax repayment plan called into doubt
Rural municipalities question the effectiveness of a recent directive to force energy companies to pay their property taxes
The Alberta Energy Regulator is a provincial regulatory body tasked to deal with unpaid municipal taxes by oil and gas companies. The provincial auditor says it is not being accountable, landowner advocacy groups claim it’s not following legislation and First Nations want it disbanded.
Alta. oil wells can now be nominated for closure
Initiative will allow people and municipalities to suggest inactive well sites and infrastructure be closed and remediated
The Closure Nomination Program is part of a wider oil and gas site Inventory Reduction Program, which has set a quota of $700 million to be spent by industry to clean up unused sites in 2023. That quota is forecast to rise to nearly a billion by 2027.
Oil wells can now be nominated for closure
A new initiative under Alberta’s liability management program allows landowners, disposition holders, municipalities and First Nations to nominate wells on their land for closure at the expense of oil or gas companies. The Closure Nomination Program will allow requesters to put forward well sites and infrastructure, excluding pipelines, that have been inactive for five or […] Read more
Alta. takes action against unpaid energy taxes
Rural municipalities are pleased with new measures, but government admits only part of what’s owed is recoverable
A ministerial order will likely be able to retrieve only part of the $268.5 million in property taxes collectively owed to Alberta’s rural municipalities by oil and gas companies. About $76 million is potentially recoverable, with the rest owed by defunct companies, said Municipal Affairs Minister Rebecca Schulz. She spoke March 21 at the spring […] Read more
Alta. farmers still struggle with lease payments
Producers say measures to help municipalities recover property taxes won’t help with outstanding surface lease payments
A new provincial program to force oil and gas companies to pay outstanding property taxes may address the issue of municipalities being left out of pocket but it doesn’t help farmers and ranchers dealing with outstanding surface lease payments. In 2022, 30,000 surface lease payments went unpaid in Alberta, according to Surface Lease Rental Recovery […] Read more
Sask. RMs say gov’t policy cuts income from oil sector
Provincial government says rural municipalities have other tools at their disposal to raise the money they need
Rural municipalities from northwestern Saskatchewan last week complained government policy is forcing them to shift taxes off energy companies onto agricultural and residential properties to meet their expenses. RMs in the heavy oil production region lined up at the microphone during the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities annual meeting resolution session to outline how they […] Read more
Unpaid oil and gas tax problem grows in Alberta
The amount of unpaid property taxes owed to rural municipalities by energy companies increased by 6.1 percent last year
Alberta’s rural municipalities are collectively owed about $268.5 million in property taxes by oil and gas companies, even as the provincial government expects to enjoy a $2.4 billion surplus due to a surging energy industry. Most of the companies that aren’t paying their taxes to municipalities are likely also withholding surface lease payments to farmers […] Read more
Crude oil prices have fallen but could rally in second half
After a year at elevated levels, oil prices are back near where they were before Russia invaded Ukraine but diesel, while moderated, is still above pre-invasion prices . With the seeding season only a few weeks away, Canadian farmers hope their diesel costs don’t see a repeat of last year when prices soared in response […] Read more
Alta. well clean-up plan generates controversy
Provincial government’s proposal to pay energy companies to reclaim inactive sites ‘has landed like a lead balloon’
Alberta is launching an industry-funded oil and gas well-cleanup program worth more than $4 billion over the next five years. However, a proposed pilot project that would see Alberta forego royalty revenue in exchange for oil and gas companies to clean up environmental liabilities has raised hackles in the province. The Closure Nomination Program (CNP) […] Read more
