Some residents in northwest Calgary are surprised to learn a sweet oil well is being planned for their neighbourhood.
The Kaiser Exploration project has already been approved by regulators and drilling could begin in the spring.
The conventional sweet oil well is going on to a piece of crown land within the city limits, just a few hundred metres behind the Royal Oak Walmart store.
The community association is aware of the plan and even had a public meeting with the oil company but the association thought there would be a lot more time to provide input.
"Not a lot of people have a lot of information on it. The approval just happened as of December 19th we've been told, we were just notified about it in the New Year here, so it went a lot faster than we really expected," said Erin Stabbler from the Rockey Ridge Royal Royal Oak Community Association.
Kaiser Exploration points out that it is a sweet oil well only, not a sour gas well, and that it has met all of the regulatory requirements.
The company says it has been consulting with residents for the past two years and has addressed all of their concerns.
Kaiser says that if there is any impact, it will be at the lease site only.
"Residents should always be concerned about impacts like that but you can be assured that Kaiser, working with the ERCB, and the city, has done everything we can to make this a safe operation," said Ned Beattie, GM Kaiser Exploration Ltd.
The city says there are a handful of wells operating within city limits but councillors say they aren't sure if any of them are this close to people's homes.
