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Oilandlandowner update February

2006

Thank you for visiting this web site. The last few months have brought on more challenges.

When a pipeline was installed on my place in 2002, the landman told me that when it was abandoned, the pipe would be cut off at my property line and steamed. I have since talked to Murphy Oil Canada’s president in Calgary. I told him how a pipeline could be removed by pulling the pipe out of the ground with very little surface disturbance and much less cost than conventional removal. He told me he would get a price on this method of removal and we would take an objective look at it. Neither one of these issues has been addressed. What the oil industry people tell you means absolutely nothing if it is not written in black and white. I would suggest that you never take the word of these people as gospel truth, be it at your table or on the phone.

If or when you are approached to put a pipeline on your property, I strongly suggest that your contract says they have to remove the pipe when the line is abandoned. If you are told, as I was, that removal would cause a lot of environmental damage, ask them to have the pipe stripped as I mentioned in my November update. Remember they probably told you how little damage there would be to your soil when they install a new line. If they won’t remove it, insist on annual rent for storing their garbage. When a pipeline becomes abandoned, the pipe is still the property of the oil company and they are responsible for it.

Recycling steel and planting trees are things that we as responsible citizens are encouraged to do to help protect our environment. The oil companies destroy our top soil, pollute our air with their flaring and no doubt cause ground water problems. When a site is to be reclaimed, is it too much to ask to have them clean up their act by recycling their abandoned steel, planting trees to replace those they removed and maybe give us back a little more than 80% of our topsoil? I think not. What ever happened to corporate responsibility?

Concerning the pipeline abandonment, I received a hand delivered letter on a Friday evening [September 30, 2005] about 7.30 pm. Some of us like to have our after hours for our personal enjoyment and not be bothered by these people whom I don’t believe have any concern for the landowners. It is not unusual for them to show up any time or day of the week. A good one is about 11am on a Sunday morning of a long weekend. I will get to more on that later.

The letter that was delivered to me stated that Murphy Oil was coming on their lease on October 5, 2005 to cut off the pipeline at the well site, not the property line, and fill it with nitrogen. I told the landman this was not going to happen. The president had never gotten back to me on pipeline removal and they had no intention of cutting the pipeline off at the property line as I was told by the landman.

On Wednesday morning a convoy of trucks and equipment still arrived even though Murphy Oil knew that there would be problems. Murphy Oil’s landman from Calgary knew Monday morning there would be a problem, but did nothing to address it.

A Murphy landman from the Calgary office asked if I would unlock the gate. I said no as I wanted to talk to the president first. This landman had no intention of following through on any of the issues discussed earlier related to pipeline abandonment. I insisted many times during our conversation that I wanted to talk to Mr.~~~~, president. The best answer I could get from him was that he would pass the message on. I could not get from him that it would be passed along to Mr.~~~~, president. I was then told that if I didn’t unlock the gate they would proceed with a right of entry order. Again there was absolutely no attempt at resolution.

Mr.~~~~ never did contact me. A few months earlier [June 2005] the Murphy landman told RDTV that “ yes we have problems, but we work through them.” This is just another of the non-truths that the public is led to believe. I know different.

Murphy was awarded their right of entry order and proceeded to do their thing with total disregard for the landowner. It is of my experience that honesty, integrity and truth are words that the oil industry does not understand.

Reclamation of the lease site still looms on the horizon and already I am being fed from the oil company menu. It becomes hard to swallow after a while.

RDTV reported that the president of Murphy Oil in Calgary said that they [ Murphy Oil ] were in the process of restoring my land back to its natural state. This again lacks honesty. It is my experience so far that Murphy’s sole intention is to do the minimum reclamation required by law and what they may have expressed verbally has no meaning to it.

Please be careful and make sure all your dealings are written in black and white and in a language that the layman can understand. Don’t only write down what you want or expect to be done also include what you don’t want. If you leave any openings they can find a way around them.

As an example, we as landowners are to be paid for our negotiating time. That sounds okay, but my experience dictates that if Murphy Oil does not want to pay you for your time involved because of a problem they caused, they resort to calling it dispute resolution time and therefore they don’t have to pay. How low can you go?

On July 20^th of 2005, I brought up the issue of reclamation of the sump pits on the lease site. It was agreed that the environment company hired by Murphy Oil would drill test holes in the sumps area. I was told then by Murphy Oil and the environment company that I would be receiving a copy of the report. The soil samples were taken on September 1, 2005. After approx. 6 months and many phone calls later I have still not received any reports.

Thanks again for visiting and I shall continue to make updates. If my experiences can be of help to you, please feel free to contact me. aubrey@oilandlandowner.ca

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