Even if Quebec has definitively turned its back on oil and gas exploitation projects, the government is still obliged to deal with numerous abandoned wells on the territory of the province. And no less than 92 of them are considered “problematic”, according to a government report published Thursday.
The document produced by the Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy takes stock of the 907 wells that were drilled in Quebec, from 19e century until the sagas of shale gas and oil exploration on Anticosti. Of all these wells, 228 have never been “located”, of which 215 “are considered non-locatable”.
What’s more, 92 localized wells “present indications of problems,” specifies the government report. The majority of these show signs of “contamination”, gas migration “in the soil around the well or in the groundwater”, or even gas emanation. Others leak oil or “toxic gas”.
In most cases of problem wells, the government does not have a complete picture of the situation. Thus, 60 have a “analysis to be done” status, because “they have indications of problems and require further investigations to confirm or deny the presence of a problem and to be able to know if corrective work must be carried out” , specifies the report. The other 32 have a “work to be carried out” status.
Contamination
According to ministry data, “24 well sites are contaminated and will require environmental rehabilitation.” But for the moment, “no contaminated site” has been the subject of environmental rehabilitation work. In the majority of cases, other work is necessary upstream before undertaking rehabilitation and restoration.
The vast majority of wells abandoned by the Quebec state were drilled several decades ago, mainly between 1950 and 1989. But 14 of them were drilled before 1900. The ministry “holds therefore very little historical information” on some of these inactive wells, some of which are oil exploration wells located in Gaspésie.
How much will the work cost for the 92 problematic abandoned wells? It is currently impossible to obtain a precise assessment of decontamination costs. One thing is certain, the tens of millions of dollars already estimated by the government will be added to the 219 million spent by the State in the shale gas saga, in oil projects in Gaspésie and in oil exploration on Anticosti, a island now listed as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Several companies that held oil and gas exploration permits at the time the Legault government adopted the legislation putting an end to the industry’s ambitions in Quebec have also taken legal action. They are demanding several hundred million dollars in compensation. The Quebec government is also financing the closure of shale gas wells.