Regulations and Regulators

Did you know...?

Because of long-standing and close cooperation among industry, government and academic scientists, Canada is regarded as having the most comprehensive information about its petroleum resources of any country in the world. Early requirements to record accurately all kinds of information from the 650,000 wells drilled to date in Canada have given us an extremely valuable and reliable database that can be used quickly and cheaply.

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The oil and gas industry works within a complex framework of laws and regulations that govern and guide industry operations, such as:

Environmental
Safety
Hiring and personnel
Land access
Landowner rights
Surface and mineral rights
Water use
And many more!

Every oil and gas activity must be applied for and approved before work can begin. Following is a list of some (not all!) of the oil and gas industry’s direct governing bodies:

Federal

Provincial

There are many other provincial and territorial regulating bodies whose legislation applies the oil and gas industry, such as those dealing with environment, labour, safety and more.

Local

Many municipalities also have regulations that govern local aspects of oil and gas operations.

Industry
Industry regulates its operations over and above government regulation. An example of this is Industry Recommended Practices (IRPs). An IRP is a set of best practices and guidelines prepared by experienced industry and government personnel to guide technical operations. Governing bodies recognize the oil and gas industry’s IRPs and sometimes use them as the foundation for new regulations.