(Quebec) An oil company is already contesting the compensation of 100 million proposed by the Legault government to put an end to exploration activities aimed at finding hydrocarbons in Quebec.
Updated yesterday at 5:21 p.m.
Utica Resources claims fair value to end its activities and quantifies at “hundreds of billions of dollars” the gas potential that Quebec is giving up.
The company maintains that oil companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars over decades to discover deposits.
“These investments have notably led to the discovery of the Utica Shales, a huge gas field that could meet Quebec’s consumption needs for more than a hundred years and whose gas value is calculated in the hundreds of billions of dollars,” argues Utica Resources.
Finally, the company invokes the law, which provides that in the event of expropriation, the indemnity is fixed according to the value of the property expropriated and the damage directly caused by the expropriation.
Recall that on Wednesday, the Legault government tabled a bill to put an end to oil and gas research and exploitation activities and to compensate companies in this sector.
They have already estimated at 500 million their claims for the expenses they incurred in exploration.
The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Jonatan Julien, predicts that it will cost the Quebec state 100 million, or 33 million to close the wells and then restore the sites, as well as 66 million to cover the expenses incurred since 2015 by five companies.
The minister considers that the 100 million is a “fairly fine estimate” and that there should be no “potential negotiations”, subject to the study in a parliamentary committee with a view to improving the text.