National Insolvency Review

Alberta's oil and gas regulatory regime has once again clashed with the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA"). In CCAA proceedings initiated by Verity Energy Ltd. ("Verity"), the Albert Court of Queen's Bench held that the Alberta Energy Regulator ("AER") was estopped from refusing to transfer licenses for certain oil and gas assets, notwithstanding the fact that the AER has a statutory discretion to approve the transfer of such licenses.

The Court held that the estoppel arose from the AER's counsel's comments to the Court at Verity's application for a Sale Approval and Vesting Order when counsel indicated he was supporting the application for the transfer of assets without also disclosing either to Verity or the Court that the AER intended to impose additional conditions on the license transfers.