After a multiyear study, the AER published Open File Report 2019-06: A Risk-Based Methodology for Commingled Well Abandonment – Southeastern Alberta Gas Field Case Study. Based on the findings of that study, the AER released Bulletin 2020-20 on September 17, 2020, to inform licensees that the AER had commenced accepting nonroutine requests to abandon commingled wells.
The AER has now made changes to section 5 of Directive 020: Well Abandonment to allow for some routine abandonment of commingled wells that involve qualified subsurface geological strata and corresponding geographic locations. Information on qualified pools will be made available on the Directive 020 webpage. The AER is now seeking public feedback on this revision.
