Strategic Oil and Gas: the regulator wants a ruling before the receiver goes

The Northwest Territories' oil and gas regulator wants one question answered before Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc. stops being receiver of the Northwest Territories property of Strategic Oil and Gas Ltd. and Strategic Transmission Ltd., which includes the Cameron Hills field: whether the territorial government "is required and eligible to hold" an operations authorization (OA) and an operating licence (OL) under sections 6, 10(a) and 10(b) of the Oil and Gas Operations Act. In a cross-application returnable November 3, the Office of the Regulator of Oil and Gas Operations (OROGO) asks the Court of King's Bench of Alberta to decide that question at the hearing of A&M's discharge application, and to add to the discharge order a condition that the government first obtain both. If the court is not prepared to modify the order, OROGO asks it to adjourn the discharge until the Alberta court has decided the question and any appeals are exhausted, or, in the alternative, to refer the question to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories under ss. 188(2) and 249 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act and adjourn until that court has decided it and any appeals are exhausted, per the Cross-Application of OROGO, returnable Nov. 3, 2026, paras. 1–6.

The copy of the cross-application in the record carries no clerk's stamp, and it lists the third affidavit of the Regulator, the official designated under s. 121 of the Act, as "affirmed and filed on October [], 2026," per the Cross-Application of OROGO, para. 25. The Regulator affirmed that affidavit in Yellowknife on October 27, in support of "OROGO's Notice of Application filed concurrently with this Affidavit," per the Third Affidavit of the Regulator, Oct. 27, 2026, paras. 1, 24 and p. 8.

The affidavit responds to what the receiver filed on October 26. In its First Supplement to the Fifth Report, A&M says it seeks its discharge "on the basis that it will no longer be funded by the GNWT and the NWT Receiver's operating license issued by OROGO expires at the end of November, 2026." If it is not discharged, it says, it could be exposed to liability, among other reasons because after November 30 it "could be in care and custody of certain oil and gas properties without the requisite regulatory license," per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, paras. 21–22. The same day, the Regulator extended the expiry of Strategic's operations authorization for the field, OA-2018-003-SOG, from November 30, 2026 to November 30, 2027, "to alleviate any concerns on the part of the NWT Receiver," and the affidavit says the supplement "erroneously refers" to an operating licence. The decision letter, attached as an exhibit, gives the licence for A&M's work at Cameron Hills as NWT-OL-2014-007, which expires on March 31, 2027, "when it may be renewed for another year for a fee of $25.00." The Regulator infers that the supplement and a bench brief the receiver filed the same day meant the authorization, and calls the extension "an administrative variation only," per the Third Affidavit of the Regulator, Oct. 27, 2026, paras. 11, 23 and Ex. "D".

Three months between hearings

The August 11 hearing reported here on August 7 did not go ahead. A&M adjourned it sine die on August 6, the day OROGO filed its opposition, "due to certain questions raised by OROGO" about the plan for the field's environmental obligations after the receiver leaves. OROGO says the adjournment was "for the stated purpose of allowing" OROGO and the government to try to resolve their dispute, and that the government did not contact it to do so, per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, paras. 2, 20 and the Cross-Application of OROGO, paras. 13–14.

On September 29 the government wrote to the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board, copying the Regulator, that the receiver would be applying to be discharged "with a hearing scheduled on November 3, 2026," and applied to assign Strategic's land use permit and water licence for Cameron Hills to its Department of Environment and Climate Change as "an anticipatory action only." Once the receiver is discharged, the letter says, Strategic "will cease to have any management, employees or other party directing it, and the GNWT will assume full responsibility for the site," per the Third Affidavit of the Regulator, Oct. 27, 2026, para. 9 and Ex. "C".

What the receiver did in October

Between October 1 and October 9, A&M and its contractors made the receiver's annual site visit: soil sampling at three historical spills that took place between 2007 and 2011, the annual sediment and erosion control survey, surface-water sampling at the battery, and new abandoned-well signs. OROGO had reported 17 sites needing replacement signage; the contractors installed it at 14, and the other three "were inaccessible because of pooled water on the muskeg." The receiver had 44 signs hauled to the area in case other sites needed them, and the 30 not installed are stored at the battery "for the GNWT's future use," per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, paras. 13, 15. The receiver estimates that the sampling reports will be available in December 2026, and says the government "will be responsible for addressing the next steps (if any) to close the historical spills," per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, para. 14.

The supplement updates the list of known liabilities OROGO put in evidence in August, and acknowledges that OROGO "has not yet inspected or confirmed" the October work. A "substantial portion of the remaining known liabilities," it says, "could be addressed more economically" through a comprehensive and integrated approach, including engagement with Indigenous governments and organizations, to develop a closure and reclamation plan for the entire site, "as required under the water license and land use permit," per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, paras. 16–17 and App. "A". A footnote records that the government has said it no longer wishes to fund the receivership and would "prefer to integrate future management of the site with management of other sites for which the GNWT is responsible," per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, para. 9(c) n. 1.

Beyond the licence, the receiver gives three other reasons it could be exposed to liability if it is not discharged: that the government no longer wishes to fund the proceedings; preparatory work for spring 2027 maintenance that would have to start now, "which again, it will not be funded to do"; and further orders from OROGO, "including emergency orders," with which it "could not comply due to funding requirements and regulatory restrictions." If the disagreement with OROGO cannot be resolved before the hearing, A&M submits that "the disagreement can be resolved following the discharge by the Courts, either in Alberta or the Northwest Territories," per the First Supplement to the Fifth Report of the Receiver, Oct. 26, 2026, paras. 22–23.

The government's brief

The government's own position is in a bench brief dated and digitally filed on October 19. It supports the discharge and asks the court to grant the receiver's draft order and refuse OROGO's relief. "The narrow question before the Court is whether the NWT Receiver has completed its mandate and should be granted a discharge," it says, and the hearing "is not a forum to litigate whether the GNWT needs to (or even has standing) to apply for a license" under the Act. Even if the court could decide that, the brief says, "there is nothing in the OGOA that would require the GNWT to possess a license in order to complete the Outstanding Remediation," and the government "is not eligible to hold a license under subsection 2(1) of the Oil and Gas Operations Regulations," per the Bench Brief of the Government of the Northwest Territories, Oct. 19, 2026, paras. 3, 5–6, 16–17.