End of Life: Abandonment, Reclamation and Orphan Wells

End of Life follows a well site from the day it stops producing to the day the land is handed back. You will see how an inactive well is suspended or sent for abandonment and what the surface land side contributes, choose the right document for what stays and what goes, and follow the reclamation path from Phase 1 and Phase 2 environmental site assessments to the reclamation certificate the AER issues through OneStop, closing out the landowner, the Crown and third parties. The last lesson covers wells whose licensee is gone: the Orphan Well Association, a landowner with unpaid rent and the Land and Property Rights Tribunal, and acquiring an orphan well through a regulator-directed transfer.

It is for practising Alberta land agents and surface land administrators who handle end-of-life files for an operator. It is designed as continuing-competence learning for Alberta land agents, at an intermediate level rather than entry-level training.

What you will learn

• Tell suspension from abandonment and name the background checks that come before an abandonment
• Complete the Authority to Abandon forms and the abandonment checklist, and assemble the land package for the environmental consultant
• Choose the right document for each end-of-life situation, from a release and consent to a lease amendment, a lease and grant or a right-of-way
• Follow the reclamation stages to a reclamation certificate as the AER processes it today, including landowner and occupant engagement
• Explain how a well becomes an orphan, how the Orphan Well Association works a site, what a landowner with unpaid rent can do, and how an orphan well is acquired through a regulator-directed transfer