When a well or facility has reached the end of its production life, the site closure and reclamation process begins. Western Canadian provinces have well established regulatory systems to ensure producers follow a consistent set of steps to achieve a defined endpoint. Operators dismantle and remove production equipment, plug wells with cement placed deep in the wellbore, conduct environmental assessments, remediate any contamination that may be present, recontour the surface of the site and finally re-establish vegetation. This process takes place over years, and often requires repeated site visits to monitor the reclamation process once major work is complete. When a site has completed the full process and meets all applicable restoration criteria, the regulatory authority will issue a reclamation certificate to formally signify completion of the closure and reclamation process.

NuVista’s current site closure focus is on our legacy oil and gas fields in both Northwestern and East-Central Alberta. At the end of 2023 we had 480 former well-sites where well abandonment had been completed and these sites were now in the reclamation stage of the process. Another 306 NuVista wells (net ownership) were inactive and in-line for abandonment.

The photos below show before (2019) and after (2022) of our former 07-07 Fontas gas plant. The site is currently in the final monitoring phase of the reclamation process.

Drilling and completing natural gas wells using modern multi-stage fracturing techniques in reserves like NuVista’s requires significant volumes of water. We comply with provincial regulations for safe and responsible use of water and all of NuVista’s freshwater withdrawals are from areas designated as “low stress” by the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas.

We are proud to announce that in the second quarter of 2024, we successfully completed a 6-well pad in our Pipestone North area using over 90% Alternative non-saline water sources. Alternative and High Quality non-saline water are two types of fresh water sources defined by the Alberta Water Conservation Policy.

In relation to our operations, High-Quality non-saline water is typically fresh water obtained from local rivers and shallow groundwater wells. Reducing our reliance on this type of fresh water has been an ongoing focus for us. At our recent Pipestone North well pad, we used primarily lower quality (Alternative) non-saline water, such as treated municipal wastewater and deep underground water that isn’t used for drinking or agriculture. We also made notable progress in treating and re-using saline water produced in our wells by removing the hydrogen sulfide that makes it hazardous to handle in the re-use process.