BONNYVILLE – The Orphan Well Association (OWA) has been tasked with addressing the leaking orphan well in Bonnyville, located in the 4500 block between 45th and 46th Ave.
According to a newsletter that the OWA sent out on May 29, the well was drilled in 1954, and as the company responsible has not been in existence since the 1960’s, the Alberta Energy Regulators designated it orphaned and directed the OWA to decomission it.
“In June 2024, the well, which was previously decommissioned to the standard of the day, was found to be leaking minor volumes of sweet natural gas (mostly methane). In response, the wellbore was located and excavated, and a monitoring and mitigation program was implemented to regularly check gas levels in the vicinity of the wellbore,” said the OWA newsletter.
With the successful purchasing of several surrounding homes, the OWA has demolished these buildings and is preparing to begin remediation of the orphan well.
Along with the newsletter, an open house was held in Bonnyville on June 12, outlining the repair and decommissioning plans for the well. OWA president Lars De Pauw said plans have not changed since then, and no further houses will be demolished.
“Everything is going according to plan. The three units that we've already purchased, the two homes and the one condo that had two homeowners in it, have been demolished and we're preparing the site right now,” said De Pauw.
The May 29th newsletter stated that the OWA will move a drilling rig to the location in July or August to decommission the well.
“It is anticipated that the rig will need to operate 24 hours per day for two to three days to complete the necessary work . . . A drilling rig is a very large piece of equipment and moving it to the location will take over 20 truckloads,” stated the newsletter.
The access route has the project’s trucks travelling to the site from the north via 46th St. and then entering the site from the west on 46th Ave. “Some localized parking restrictions are anticipated” along 46th Ave.
“We're getting to the final point of making a decision when we're going to start, but it's going to be here in the coming week. So, it's coming up pretty quickly. We are going to communicate to all the stakeholders once we've picked the exact date that we're going to start, but we haven't yet picked a date,” said De Pauw.
The Town of Bonnyville is not in charge of the project, so inquiries can be directed to the OWA via their website, which posts updates on the project, or at [email protected] .
