Quote:
Originally Posted by ehrgeiz
^Curious as to how you see abandoned pipelines as liabilities?
Sounds like CNRL is just trying to be a smart business and leverage Federal Government stimulus money to their benefit. I sure know of a lot of businesses that have done just that and are not oil and gas. CNRL also most assuredly abandoned and reclaims a significant number of wells annually.
^I think you need to revisit the current reality of Imperial's old Leduc oilfield. It's not at all as you suggest. In fact it's a productive field and many of the old sites have been or are being reclaimed. Of course there are sites in that area with the OWA and there are sites that can't be practically cleaned-up and are in perpetual monitoring. It's one of the first oil fields developed at a time when conservation and protection of environment was not really a thing. Lessons learned the hard way, but I'll tell you the crops still grow strong!
I don't mean to be argumentative all of the time, but I'm not going to sit quiet anymore while misinformation suggests that oil and gas development has left Alberta a mess. The reality is that oil and gas has been an overwhelming blessing to the prosperity of our Province and will continue to be provided we can maintain and establish Provincial and Federal Governments that support investment. The opportunities presented through oil and gas and other resource extraction are not even close to being over, not by a damned sight.
|
Inactive wells, pipelines, etc are liabilities because they require dollars spent for reclamation. In order to begin a new well, the company is legally required to clean it once it’s finished. These companies are not cleaning up after themselves, and subsequent governments have never forced the issue. So the liabilities keep growing and growing… To the point where these companies will not be able to do it without a massive Government (taxpayer) subsidy.
I agree, from a business point of view it is smart. From an ethical point of view, however, it’s awful. These companies are paying out big dividends to wealthy investors… and waiting for regular joe blow taxpayers to foot the bill for cleaning up their mess. And meanwhile, the environment takes another hit.
I’m not against oil and gas... or resource development in general. I just wish that they would simply clean up after themselves, and do the job right.