On Friday April 17, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced additional measures specifically to support Canada's energy sector. These new measures include the following:
- $1.7B of funding to clean up orphan wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. This funding to clean up orphan wells is expected to “maintain' 5,200 jobs in Alberta alone;
- The Federal Government will provide credit though BDC and EDC to help medium-sized energy companies; and
- The Federal Government will also create a $750 Million emission-reduction fund which will focus on the reduction of methane, to create jobs in efforts to cut pollutions, including $75 Million to assist offshore industry cut emissions in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Federal Government expects this funding to maintain 10,000 jobs across the Country. Prime Minister Trudeau mentioned in his address to the nation that “our goal is to create immediate jobs in these provinces while helping companies avoid bankruptcy and supporting our environmental targets”.
This new federal funding is in addition to the Government of Alberta's announcement on March 2, 2020 that they would be providing a $100 Million loan to Orphan Well Association for the decommissioning of 800 to 1000 orphan wells. Premier Kenny stated that this measure was expected to create 500 direct and indirect jobs in the oil services sector.
Additional information about these commitments from the Federal Government are expected to surface in the next coming days. McLennan Ross will continue to monitor these new measures and provide all necessary updates.
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