Author Archives: Nigel Bankes

About Nigel Bankes

Nigel Bankes is emeritus professor of law at the University of Calgary. Prior to his retirement in June 2021 Nigel held the chair in natural resources law in the Faculty of Law.

What is the Status of the Shell/Pieridae Deal and What is the AER Doing?

By: Nigel Bankes

Matter commented on: Deferred Shell/Pieridae Licence Transfer Application: Amended Notice of Hearing, Proceeding 410, Shell Canada Limited and Pieridae Alberta Production Ltd., Caroline, Waterton, and Jumping Pound, and 2022 ABAER 001.

PDF Version: What is the Status of the Shell /Pieridae Deal and What is the AER Doing?

In 2019, Shell Canada, an international major, entered into a purchase and sale agreement (PSA) with Pieridae Alberta Production Ltd. The PSA contemplated that Shell would sell Pieridae its interests in what are known as Shell’s ‘Foothills Natural Gas Assets’ in Alberta: the Waterton, Jumping Pound, and Caroline fields. These assets are all sour gas assets meaning that they are rich in hydrogen sulphide, thus their development and continuing production pose considerable risks to human health as well as technical risks to the integrity of facilities that must be carefully managed. Continue reading →

Worrying About Reclamation and Abandonment Obligations in the Context of Property Assignment Consents

By: Nigel Bankes and Drew Yewchuk

Case commented on: Canadian Natural Resources Limited v Harvest Operations Corp, 2023 ABKB 62 (CanLII)

PDF Version: Worrying About Reclamation and Abandonment Obligations in the Context of Property Assignment Consents

This decision is principally about when a court can or should grant partial summary judgment. For that reason alone, we anticipate that it will be appealed. But the underlying concern that led to this litigation was (and still is) the decision of Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL) to contest assignments pursuant to a purchase and sale agreement (PSA) between Harvest Operations as the vendor and Spoke Resources as the purchaser. CNRL and Harvest were parties to some 170 agreements affected by the PSA, including 133 land agreements, 30 facility agreements, and 7 service agreements. Continue reading →

Do We Need a Forum Within Which to Discuss Issues of Electricity Law and Policy in Alberta?

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Do We Need a Forum Within Which to Discuss Issues of Electricity Law and Policy in Alberta?

I am not a technical electricity expert and I do not have day-to-day access to technical experts, but I have been following some of the law and policy issues in the electricity sector in Alberta over the last decade or so. I am concerned that we don’t have a suitable forum within which to publicly discuss and develop electricity law and policy for an increasingly decentralized electricity system that continues to decarbonize and has access to a greater diversity of generation. On top of this is the emerging policy of the “electrification of everything”. There is massive complexity here, but the public deserves to be involved in a discussion of the relevant issues. Continue reading →

Total Claims that its ROFR Rights Were Violated in the Sale of Teck’s Interest in the Fort Hills Project

By: Nigel Bankes

Case commented on: TotalEnergies EP Canada Ltd v Suncor Energy Inc, 2023 ABKB 59 (CanLII).

PDF Version: Total Claims that its ROFR Rights Were Violated in the Sale of Teck’s Interest in the Fort Hills Project

Suncor, Total, and Teck all owned interests in the Fort Hills Oilsands Project (54%, 24.4%, and 21.5%, respectively). Teck agreed to sell its interest in the project to Suncor. The sale triggered a right of first refusal (ROFR) in the relevant agreement. The sale included some of Teck’s other assets (the other assets) but the sale was also subject to a condition precedent that required Teck to vote in favour of a proposed operating budget for the Project (the budget approval covenant). Suncor’s proposed operating budget had been hotly contested among the three partners for a number of years. Total and Teck had repeatedly voted against Suncor’s budget proposals, with the result that those budgets were not approved and operations had to revert to the last approved budget of 2021. Continue reading →