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<\/p>\nThe Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has ordered a privately owned Calgary oil and gas company to suspend operations until it resolves numerous concerns that include incomplete cleanup of contaminated well sites and unpaid municipal taxes.<\/p>\n
The April 22 directive gives MAGA Energy Ltd. two weeks to shut in and secure all of its wells and facilities. Any active pipelines must be discontinued and all equipment shut off and inspected for leaks, among other measures.<\/p>\n
MAGA holds 581 well licences, 800 pipeline sections and another 108 facilities, the regulator said in a release.<\/p>\n
\u201cBased on MAGA\u2019s unpaid municipal taxes, AER and Orphan Well Association debt, and failure to meet its commitments, the director assessed that the licensee does not have the capacity to fulfil its regulatory and liability obligations,\u201d it states.<\/p>\n
A social media post said the action was taken to \u201cprotect the public and environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 52-page order, signed by Jon Keeler, the AER\u2019s director of field operations, outlines a number of reported field issues, including failure to act on remediation plans for contaminated well sites and ongoing pipeline deficiencies.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
AER (Alberta Energy Regulator) flag.<\/p>\n
It indicates some of the sites were contaminated before their licences were transferred to MAGA. Later inspections of those sites and others found no evidence remedial work had recently occurred or was underway, the order states.<\/p>\n
\u201cMAGA\u2019s failure to meet its commitments, milestones, and adhere to timelines raises concerns about the licensee\u2019s ability to continue operating while remaining compliant with regulatory requirements and fulfilling its end-of-life obligations,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n
NDP MLA Marlin Schmidt has questioned why the AER allowed the 2024 transfer of 170 well licences to MAGA when the company owed more than $200,000 in unpaid taxes to Sturgeon County at the time.<\/p>\n
Schmidt said the AER has failed to provide requested documents to support its decision, which appears to contradict a ministerial order that prohibits the transfer of well licences to a company owing $20,000 or more in back taxes.<\/p>\n
Sturgeon County records show MAGA owed $225,000 in unpaid taxes as of July 31, 2023, in addition to another $160,000 in taxes and penalties that year.<\/p>\n
Councillors in August 2023 rejected the company\u2019s proposal to pay $7,000 a month for the remainder of the year and $15,000 per month beginning in January 2024, in addition to annual tax levies.<\/p>\n
All requirements of the April 22 order must be met before the AER will allow the company to resume operations, it said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) has ordered a privately owned Calgary oil and gas company to suspend operations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10189,51,10192,10190,10191],"class_list":["post-20246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-alberta-energy-regulator","tag-calgary","tag-maga","tag-maga-energy-ltd","tag-unpaid-taxes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}