Deep Gas Royalty Holiday Program - Well Process Status
Well Process Status 
Through discussions with industry stakeholders, the department and the ERCB, it was determined that there was a need to identify the “process status” of all eligible deep gas royalty exemption wells at any given time.
This spreadsheet identifies the “processing status” of an eligible deep gas royalty exemption well (effective January 2006) . The well information on the spreadsheet is sorted by the Application Code and Application Description. Only applications within the 10 years from the Finished Drilling Date criteria are displayed.
The following information below provides information to assist with understanding the spreadsheet. The available “process statuses” are as follows:
| Application Status Description |
|
| First appearance of potential eligible wells requiring determination this month. | |
|
Registered |
Well has been recognized by the department and assigned an exemption number. |
| ERCB Consultation | Well has been sent to the ERCB for technical evaluation. |
| ERCB Approved |
The department has received a recommendation based on the technical evaluation by the ERCB. |
| Confirmed |
The department has determined the calculation of the exemption and has completed the data entry. Well has been set up for exemption. |
| Denied |
It has been determined that the well does not meet the eligibility criteria. |
| Returned from ERCB | The ERCB has returned the technical evaluation for the department to review. |
| Confidential | The ERCB has designated this well as "Confidential". Direct all inquiries of the process status for this well to Royalty Programs. |
Industry may contact Royalty Programs for inquiries pertaining to wells that have been denied after internal research to determine that the following basic eligibility criteria has been met and correctly reported to the department/ERCB:
- Well has, and reported, an “On Production’ date
- Well has, and reported, gas production volumes
- Well depth is greater than 2,500 metres
- Well is not 100% Freehold
- Well is not identified as a Bitumen Well
Note: Wells that have not met and/or reported any one or more of the above attributes will not appear on the spreadsheet. The department does not have the information for the well’s potential eligibility. In addition, if well production has been amended resulting in no production data for this well, the well will be dropped from the spreadsheet until well production is reported.
The spreadsheet is updated monthly within the second week of each month. Updates include:
- Changes in application process status
- Application Type for new wells sent for technical evaluation by the ERCB
- Comments by the ERCB
- Insertion of industry contact names and telephone numbers in cases where clarification of additional information has been requested by the ERCB
The ERCB will determine the Application Type for new well applications. The Application Type signifies the estimated amount of time required for the technical evaluation to be completed by the ERCB:
- Routine – normal processing (approx. 6 months)
- Non-Routine – complicated technical evaluation (greater than 6 months)
For additional information, please contact Royalty Programs at GasRoyaltyPrograms@gov.ab.ca or Wayne Taljit at 780-422-9296.
