CALGARY -- Calgary-based energy giant Cenovus says it will reclaim 1,500 of its abandoned oil wells over the next 10 years, with the vast majority of those operations located in Alberta.
The move is part of plans covering the next decade, which include reducing emissions, reclaiming old wells, investing with First Nations groups and better managing fresh water resources.
The company announced its environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets Thursday and says they will help it position it to "thrive in the transition to a lower-carbon future."
"Our environmental practices, low-emissions oil sands operations and the relationships we’ve built with residents in areas where we operate, including Indigenous communities, demonstrate our commitment to sustainability leadership," said Cenovus' president Alex Pourbaix in a release.
Officials say reclamation means returning the sites to the state they were in before the well was put in.
"That means removing equipment and cleaning up anything that might have impacted the environment," said Reg Curren, senior media advisor with Cenovus.
Curren says Cenovus has been working the cost of reclaiming the sites into its budget and has also had personnel assigned to land reclamation for some time.
"We have always planned to do reclamation as we went along," he said. "It's like when you have kids and are saving for their education, you have two choices; you can save over time until they are 18 or wait and pay for it all at once."
He said they wanted to stay ahead of it and keep the expertise within the company when it came time to conduct the work.
Over the next 10 years, Cenovus will also be reducing its per-barrel greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 30 per cent with a target of net-zero emissions by 2050.
The company will also be investing $1.5 billion in Indigenous businesses to help them responsibly develop oil and natural gas resources and will improve its management of water resources by setting a target of 0.1 barrel of fresh water use per barrel of oil equivalent.
The provincial government says it is pleased by Cenovus' sustainability efforts.
"This is yet another example of Canadian oil and gas producers having the highest environmental, social and governance standards in the world when compared to other oil and gas producing countries," Kavi Bal, senior press secretary for Alberta's Ministry of Energy, wrote in an email to CTV News.
The government adds strategies like this are "crucial" in attracting new investment to Alberta.
Cenovus operates approximately 3,700 producing wells in Western Canada. It says, in addition to the abandoned wells in Alberta, it will also be reclaiming a small number of wells it owns in Saskatchewan and eastern B.C.
