The Abandoned Works Program

What is the Abandoned Works Program?

Candidate wells are ranked according to their risk to public safety and potential for environmental damage.  Sites that represent immediate or significant hazards will be addressed first.

Most candidate wells are usually more than 50 years old.  Ministry records for these wells are often incomplete or non-existent.  The Abandoned Works Program relies on landowners to help identify and locate abandoned wells on their property for which no public record exists.

Old gas well leaking sulphur water in Norfolk County.  Well was plugged by the Abandoned Works
Program in 2008

IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT ABANDONED WELLS

An abandoned oil and gas well on your property is a hazard to the environment and your health and safety. Such wells are also significant obstacles to new development and can be a financial liability to the landowner. Identifying and reporting abandoned wells and properly plugging them is important.

History of Oil and Gas Wells in Ontario
Ontario has a lengthy oil and gas well drilling and production history dating back to 1858.  Tens of thousands of wells have been drilled in south-western Ontario prior to modern well design and plugging regulations that were first enacted in 1958.  Many of these early wells are now abandoned, in poor condition and not properly plugged.  Such wells pose a range of threats to the public and the environment, from explosive gas build-up in homes or other buildings to spills causing water and soil contamination, or simply by acting as conduits for other contaminants to enter into our valuable groundwater resources.