Well Abandonment Application

Under The Oil and Gas Conservation Act, authorization by the Ministry of Energy and Resources is required to abandon a well, perform a downhole abandonment, or cut and cap a well, for wells drilled for upstream oil and gas or potash in Saskatchewan.

See the Directive PNG015: Well Abandonment Requirements for more information.

In emergency situations, call 1-844-764-3637, the ministry's Petroleum and Natural Gas Emergency Support Line, for verbal authorization to perform abandonment activities. Emergency authorization must be followed by an email confirmation to the appropriate Ministry Field Office, and requires an application for authorization to be submitted through the Integrated Resource Information System (IRIS).

Applicants must:

• Have an IRIS account and the appropriate permissions assigned by your IRIS Security Administrator;
• Have ownership of the well or agreements in place to perform operations on the well; and
• Read and understand The Oil and Gas Conservation Regulations, 2012 and Directive PNG015.

To apply for a well abandonment authorization:

1. Ensure you meet all eligibility requirements.
2. Log in to IRIS and complete the appropriate application process for authorization and attach the required documents.
3. Please refer to the Gas Migration and Surface Casing Vent Flow form for completing surface abandonment.
4. Please refer to the Cut and Cap form for cut and cap reporting.
5. For a project abandonment involving commingled shallow gas completions, please refer to Guideline PNG015: Applications for Commingled Abandonments.

IRIS Login

Additional authorization may be required if issues exist with gas migration and surface casing vent flow after abandonment is complete. For more information, see Gas Migration and Surface Casing Vent Flow Reporting.