Hundreds of former orphan wells north of Fort Nelson sold to data centre company

FORT NELSON, B.C. — Hundreds of wells that were previously designated as ‘orphans’ and set to be cleaned up by the BC Energy Regulator (BCER) have come under new ownership.

According to a press release from the BCER, as of Friday, September 19th, 234 orphan wells north of Fort Nelson and their associated infrastructure have been purchased by WildBoy Energy, a company that uses oil and gas assets to directly power data centres in northern B.C.

The wells were previously owned by Erikson National Energy, a company with assets in the region that entered financial insolvency proceedings last year after failing to pay various fees and meet BCER regulations since 2020.

Beginning in spring of this year, the BCER began designating former Erikson National assets as orphan sites, meaning they were abandoned and considered of no interest to any potential buyers.

In July, however, WildBoy entered proceedings to purchase the 234 wells and their associated infrastructure, which includes a gas plant. The deal closed on September 12th.

“The assets WildBoy has acquired are located northeast of Fort Nelson,” the press release reads. “The sale allows for continued operation of assets, avoiding orphan designation and associated restoration costs that will now be borne by the new operator.”

The BCER will now continue to work on decommissioning Erikson National’s remaining 168 orphan sites. 

Now that this sale has been completed, the BCER manages a total of 987 orphan sites in the province. So far, 254 of those have been fully decommissioned.