Oil and Gas Well License Re-Entries
Res #: 24-23M
Number: 24
Year: 2023
Midterm: Yes
Expired: No
Responses Received: Yes
Departments: Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources
WHEREAS oil and gas companies are required to apply for a new well license to re-enter an existing well and re-entries into existing wells are issued as amendments to existing well licenses.
WHEREAS the Ministry of Energy and Resources currently does not notify municipalities of the issuance of well licenses and is required to determine the issuance of well licenses on their own.
WHEREAS municipalities need to know when the Ministry of Energy and Resources authorizes well re-entries as they require the same amount of equipment and resources as drilling a new well and the municipality can ensure that well re-entries are being properly assessed.
BE IT RESOLVED that SARM lobby the Ministry of Energy and Resources to introduce weekly notifications to municipalities of the issuance of well licenses, well re-entries, amendments, and cancelations of well licenses.
Responses From: Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources
December 18, 2023
Currently, RM’s can identify wells within their municipality by viewing the publicly available daily report of licences issued, which can be sorted by RM and found at: https://www.saskatchewan.ca/business/agriculture-natural-resources-and-industry/oil-and-gas/oil-and-gas-news-and-bulletins/well-and-facility-bulletins-data-files-and-drilling-activity-report under Daily Well Bulletins.
ER is not able at this time to send out individual notification to RMs of changes to licences in their jurisdiction as it would require a significant manual effort and/or technology upgrades to support.
However, ER is willing to explore options that would compile daily licence issuance information into weekly or monthly reports for placement on our website. RM’s would continue to have the ability to sort and query the data applicable to their RM. ER officials could provide training on report access and query functionality if needed.
The Honourable Jim Reiter – Minister of Energy and Resources, Saskatchewan Ministry of Energy and Resources
