Final Site Closure Allocation Includes $10 Million for Work in First Nations Communities

Released on August 31, 2022

Province allocates remaining funds for Accelerate Site Closure Program.

Today, the Government of Saskatchewan is making an additional $10 million available under the First Nations Stewardship Fund within the Accelerated Site Closure Program (ASCP). This new funding builds on the $20M already committed in January of 2021 and will result in additional abandonment and reclamation activities at inactive oil and gas sites in First Nations communities. Now totaling $30 million, the commitment to the Stewardship Fund will address a significant portion of all inactive oil and gas sites on Reserve lands across the province.

"The ASCP program and Stewardship Fund have been incredibly successful as the province has seen a large uptake in applications, with hundreds of companies cleaning up thousands of sites across the province,” Energy and Resources Minister Jim Reiter said. "The strong collaboration with the Centre of Excellence has helped ensure the program’s success through job creation and clean-up activities on Reserve lands."

The Stewardship Fund has been well-received by Indigenous leaders, communities, and the oil and gas industry. The $10 million made available today builds on the Government of Saskatchewan's commitment to supporting meaningful Indigenous participation in the ASCP.

"The amount of work and dedication needed to undertake this environmental work is great, and it's essential to include First Nations on initiatives like this, further demonstrating that when the province wants to partner with First Nations, it can, and such partnerships will benefit all," said Vice Chief Heather Bear. “This is a successful program providing good results for our environment, it ensures that our future generations will be able to exercise our inherent Treaty Rights within a sustainable environment”.

As of July 31, 2022, $17 million in site closure work on Reserve lands has been completed or is underway. This includes 320 well abandonments and 189 site reclamation and remediation activities. To date, it is estimated that 1,339 full-time equivalent jobs have been maintained or created in the oil and gas service sector through the ASCP.

A related program, the Indigenous Business Credit Pool, supports the participation of Indigenous oil and gas service companies in the ASCP. As of July 31, 2022, eligible Indigenous oil and gas service companies have completed $20.2 million in site closure work.

"This collaborative effort with the Ministry of Energy and Resources had allowed us to achieve this important objective," President and CEO of the Saskatchewan First Nations COE Sheldon Wuttunee said. "It was priority for the Centre of Excellence and the First Nations Working Group, that there was an additional injection into the First Nations Stewardship Fund to ensure that the ASCP was able to reclaim all inactive wells and facilities nominated on First Nations lands with our Indigenous Companies doing much of the work."

In addition to the $10 million announced today for the Stewardship Fund, the ASCP has made $3.3 million available by application to eligible oil and gas producers. As a result, all $400 million in program funding is now available for allocation.

The ASCP is a $400 million stimulus program for oil and gas service sector companies and workers and is funded through the federal government's COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. As of July 31, 2022, 413 work packages have been issued under the ASCP with a total value of $379 million. The program has engaged over 830 Saskatchewan-based service companies, completing 6,119 well abandonments, 2,964 flowline abandonments, 58 facility decommissions, and more than 11,000 site remediation and reclamation activities.

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