All’s Well that Ends Well: Addressing End-of-Life Liabilities for Oil and Gas Wells

If Alberta doesn’t change how it requires companies to finance their own oil and gas well cleanup costs, the energy industry and, ultimately, taxpayers in Alberta face cleanup costs of up to $8 billion, according to a report by the C.D. Howe Institute.  In “All’s Well that Ends Well: Addressing End-of-Life Liabilities for Oil and Gas Wells,” authors Benjamin Dachis, Blake Shaffer and Vincent Thivierge use a financial stress test to estimate future cleanup costs and recommend ways for the government to better manage the problem.