Ontario has had a program to abandon wells since 1960, originally called the Abandoned Works Fund. It was refined in 2005. The program's main goal is to find, and seal orphaned and legacy wells. Construction of these wells used a very wide range of methods and materials which have deteriorated over time.
Legacy oil and gas wells must be decommissioned by professionals to meet today's regulations.
Landowners can get financial help from the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Abandoned Works Program. This program assists property owners by:
- Checking to determine if there are records of petroleum wells before developing a property. Check with your municipality for any setback requirements.
- Assessing wells based on the risk to public safety and the potential for environmental damage.
- Arranging for a certified well contractor to plug the well. Wells that are ranked as immediate or significant hazards are prioritized.
If you suspect you may have an abandoned well on your property, stop any plans to build over top of a petroleum well.
Well core samples at the Oil, Gas, and Salt Resources Library, in London, Ontario. The Petroleum Resources Laboratory was established in 1971 and renamed the OGSRL in 1997. The library is a not-for-profit resource centre for the study of the subsurface geology, petroleum, salt, and underground hydrocarbon storage resources of Ontario.
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