REGINA – Officials have announced the third and final phase of Saskatchewan’s Accelerated Site Closure Program (ASCP), with the distribution of an additional $55 million in funding to eligible companies.
“In its first 18 months, this program has been very successful and created high-quality oil and gas service sector jobs,” Energy and Resources Minister Bronwyn Eyre said in a statement. “More than 575 Saskatchewan-based companies have carried out over 5,500 well site reclamation and remediation projects across the province. That’s a great achievement.”
The program kicked off in 2020. It provides up to $400 million in federal government funding through the COVID-19 Economic Response Plan.
The ASCP supports Saskatchewan-based oil and gas service companies carrying out abandonment (clean-up) and reclamation work of inactive oil and gas well sites and facilities across every oil and gas producing region of the province.
The program is managed by the Ministry of Energy and Resources and delivered in partnership with the Saskatchewan Research Council.
“Addressing the climate crisis and protecting our environment are priorities for the Government of Canada,” said Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson. “Through the Accelerated Site Closure Program, we have provided more than $1.7 billion for Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan to clean up inactive and orphan oil and gas wells, sites which are major contributors to Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions and frequently the source of local pollutants. I welcome the final phase of the program in Saskatchewan.”
As of this fall, $316 million in contracts have been awarded through the program. More than $152 million has been paid for work already completed, including 3,100 well abandonments, 830 flowline abandonments, 25 facility decommissions and more than 5,500 site remediation and reclamation activities.
Regionally, the funding for work packages disbursed across oil and gas producing regions of the province includes:
- Estevan: $107 million
- Swift Current: $51 million
- Kindersley: $50 million
- Lloydminster: $108 million
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