ALBERTA OFFERS $235M ORPHAN WELL CLEANUP LOAN

The Alberta oil industry will be on the hook for a $235 million government loan to clean up a rising number of oil wells abandoned by owners who have gone bankrupt, the province said on Thursday. The loan, repayable over 10 years, will go to the government-run, industry-funded Orphan Well Association (OWA), which cleans up wells for which no party is legally responsible, Premier Rachel Notley said. Alberta, which produces about 80 per cent of Canada’s crude, had more than 1,500 orphan wells in February, up from 26 in 2012. The loan is lower than the $500 million an industry group asked for in 2016. The OWA will double indefinitely its levies charged to all petroleum producers to a total of $60 million a year, starting in 2019, Notley said. That, however, could be adjusted in the future.