Accelerating Recovery of Well Sites to Forest Ecosystems

ConocoPhillips has initiated several partnerships with forest companies to replant trees on well sites identified for abandonment and reclamation.

Typical reclamation requirements for well sites in forested regions of Alberta, Canada, require oil and gas companies to re-contour the site, replace the topsoil and stabilize the site against soil erosion with appropriate vegetative cover, usually grass. After certified as complete, the site is turned over to the forest company for replanting at an appropriate time. However, planted trees do not survive well on sites seeded to grass and often require additional site preparation by the forest company at extra expense.

ConocoPhillips is seeking to improve on this practice, beginning with instituting a new process to provide forest companies with early notification of sites coming up for reclamation. In doing so, ConocoPhillips has been able to work collaboratively with several forest companies to plan reclamation for these sites such that recovery to forest ecosystems is accelerated thereby reducing the duration of our “footprint” on the environment and lowering costs for both ConocoPhillips and the forest companies.

In some cases, natural recovery reclamation techniques will be used instead of seeding, and in other cases, work is under way to plant trees on these sites. Either way, it’s a “win-win-win” for ConocoPhillips, the forest companies and the environment.