Canada's Aging Oil & Gas Infrastructure: Who Will Pay?

A significant portion of Canada's oil and gas infrastructure is fast approaching its functional end of life. In Alberta, Canada's largest oil and natural gas producing province, approximately 30% of its pipelines are greater than 25 years old, while 5% are greater than 50 years old. The potential environmental and other liabilities associated with this infrastructure, from both a regulatory and civil perspective, are significant. As the frequency of environmental incidents involving this infrastructure increases, complex legal and practical issues will begin to emerge at an accelerating pace, which will have to be addressed.

These issues, a high level summary of which can be found here, have been canvassed in depth by Michael A. Marion and Michael G. Massicotte, partners of BLG's Calgary office, and Kristen Read, Legal Counsel, Devon Canada Corporation, at the Canadian Energy Law Foundation Jasper Seminar, which took place June 11 to 14, 2014 in Jasper, Alberta.