The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) sets the rules for building near energy infrastructure. The most important one for acreage owners is Directive 079, whose current edition took effect on May 14, 2025.
- Abandoned-well setback
- 5 m radius min.
- Directive 079 edition
- May 14, 2025
- Pipeline controlled area
- 30 m each side
- Sour gas hazard levels
- 4
Abandoned wells: invisible by design
When a well is abandoned, its casing is cut and capped one metre or more below the surface. Once the site receives a reclamation certificate, the lease notation is usually removed from title. The AER's own directive puts it plainly: at that point there may be nothing visible on the land, and nothing on the title, to show a well is there.
That is why a search matters. The AER's Abandoned Wells Map Viewer shows recorded surface locations with the licensee of record and coordinates. Since 2012, Alberta's Subdivision and Development Regulation has also required applicants to identify abandoned wells.
The setback rule
Under Directive 079, no surface structure may be built on top of an abandoned well, and a minimum 5 m setback radius around it must be maintained. The municipality may require more, and the AER encourages a larger setback and an agreed access route so the licensee can reach the well if it ever needs work. Wells drilled and abandoned to less than 150 m deep are exempt.
On a large parcel, five metres is rarely the constraint. The practical questions are where the well sits relative to the best building site, the view, the septic field and the driveway — and what the access route will need.
Pipelines and rights-of-way
A pipeline's controlled area extends 30 m on each side of the pipe, measured from the centre of the outermost line. The right-of-way itself is usually narrower. Work inside the right-of-way — or within 5 m of a pipe with no designated right-of-way — requires the licensee's written consent, a locate and supervision. Fencing, a new approach, a dugout or a shop pad near a line all count.
Rights-of-way are registered on title. Read each one: its width, who holds it, and what it permits the holder to do.
Sour gas setbacks
The AER classifies sour gas facilities into four hazard levels based on release rates, pipeline release volumes and hydrogen sulphide content, each with a predetermined setback. Municipalities do not permit development where people will live within a setback, and industry and planning authorities have used the same guidelines since 1979. If a parcel is near a sour gas well or line, ask the county how the setback affects building sites.
Surface leases and the Tribunal
Mineral rights in Alberta are usually held separately from the surface, so an operator may hold the right to enter land it does not own. Surface leases set out access and annual compensation. Disputes over right of entry and compensation go to the Land and Property Rights Tribunal, which since June 2021 has combined the former Surface Rights Board, Land Compensation Board, Municipal Government Board and New Home Buyer Protection Board.
When you buy land with an active lease, the lease — and its payments and obligations — usually comes with it. Ask for the agreement, the current payment and the operator's contact.
Your checklist
- Search of the AER Abandoned Wells Map Viewer for the parcel and its edges
- Every right-of-way and surface lease on title read and understood
- Location of any well or line relative to planned building sites
- Surface lease agreement and current annual payment, if any
- County confirmation of any sour gas setback affecting the parcel
How Dusko uses this
Dusko searches the regulator's well map for every acreage he lists, so buyers see the answer in the property file rather than discovering it during conditions.