By: Heather Lilles
PDF Version: Upholding the Lexin Equipment Order – The AER Wins the Battle, But Most Likely Will Lose the War
Case Commented On: Interim Order and Order Re Equipment (ABQB), Alberta Energy Regulator (applicant) and Lexin Resources Ltd. (respondent), Court File Number 1701-02272 and Alberta Energy Regulator v Lexin Resources Ltd., 2017 ABQB 219 (CanLII)
Lexin Resources may only be a junior oil and gas company, but recent extensive coverage by local news agencies (see here for example) has caused the name of the small oil and gas producer to become as familiar as its larger counterparts, or – perhaps – as infamous as Redwater Energy Corporation. Redwater, another junior in the Canadian industry, became notorious last October when Chief Justice Neil Wittmann of the Court of Queen’s Bench allowed the Receiver of Redwater to disclaim unproductive oil and gas assets even where those assets were subject to abandonment orders from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER). See the post of Professor Bankes on the Redwater decision here.
Like Redwater Energy, Lexin has been petitioned into bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, RSC 1985, c B-3. In Lexin’s case, a Receiver was appointed on the application of the Alberta Energy Regulator – an unprecedented step for the Regulator. This post addresses two of the recent court actions involving Lexin Resources and the AER: the Interim Order Re Equipment which was issued by the Court of Queen’s Bench on February 14, 2017 (the “Interim Order”) and the recent decision in Alberta Energy Regulator v Lexin Resources Ltd., 2017 ABQB 219 (CanLII) (the “Lexin Decision”). This post does not directly discuss Lexin’s bankruptcy or what effect the Court of Appeal’s decision in Redwater (not yet released) could have on Lexin’s bankruptcy and its AER licensed assets.