Oil and Gas Conservation on Canada Lands

John Marston was a federal civil servant in Ottawa.

Professor Owen L. Anderson is Visiting Chair of Natural Resources Law at the University of Calgary and Associate Professor of Law, University of North Dakota. He has produced this paper under the aegis of the Canadian Institute of Resources Law, whose mandate is to examine the legal aspects of both renewable and nonrenewable resources. The Institute has engaged in a wide variety of research projects, including studies on environmental regulation of oil and gas projects; compensation schemes for damages from offshore petroleum projects and operations; petroleum licensing systems; and a host of subjects too numerous to recount here (details are available at the beginning of paper).

Professor Anderson’s paper examines Canada’s Oil and Gas Production and Conservation Act, which provides for the regulation of exploration, drilling, production, conservation, processing, and transportation of oil and gas on Canada land. The paper provides a brief review of the history and rationale for petroleum conservation laws. It examines the legislative history of the Act, raises some organizational issues, and reviews the statutory provisions regarding the dormant Oil and Gas Committee.

A major portion of the paper focuses on the procedures for pursuing oil and gas conservation: how to obtain licenses and orders, waste prevention, recovery, etc. The new sections of the Act dealing with spills are examined in detail.

The paper concludes with a statement of five types of problems that ought to be resolved before oil and gas production in Canada land increases.