OTTAWA MAY FUND CLEANUP OF SPENT OIL WELLS: MINISTER

Ottawa may help pay for the cleanup of spent oil wells, federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr said on Friday. A crash in crude- oil prices has led oil companies to abandon more wells, particularly in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall on Monday asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to pay $156 million to accelerate cleanup of oil wells in his province that can no longer produce. Such a plan could create 1,200 jobs, Wall said. Restoring the habitat around old oil wells is a corporate responsibility, but the Canadian government is also aware of the need for jobs in regions hurt by crude oil’s slump, Carr said. “There are producing provinces that are having a tough time with job losses in the sector,” he said at a news conference after meetings with U. S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Mexico Energy Secretary Pedro Joaquin Coldwell in Winnipeg. The energy ministers also agreed to share information on areas including clean- energy technology, carbon capture and reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector.