There were more than 1,400 orphan wells in Alberta at the end of September. It’s the Orphan Well Association’s job to deal with abandoned pipelines and oil and gas wells, and these abandoned sites are likely to grow in number as the energy sector continues to suffer.
“Because of low commodity prices, companies are struggling, and what you would think of as a viable company are starting to go out of business,” said executive director Pat Payne.
“Properties that are actually well managed are starting to become orphans.” The association had previously had an average of 45 wells in inventory, but a big leap occurred last year when the number of orphans jumped to 705.
Barbara Duckworth – The Western Producer – Nov. 17th, 2016.
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