News & Events

Summit’s team of environmental and decommissioning professionals remain committed to ensuring our clients are informed and benefit from Alberta's Site Rehabilitation Program (SRP) federal grant funding. Summit regularly participates in Alberta Energy Information Sessions and is an active participant as part of the PSAC closure committee.  

In the initial rounds Summit saw mixed results in successful applications, demonstrating the correct format and submission, however, hampered by the program’s initial approval limitations and review structure. Overall approvals exceeded the industry average by a significant margin. Many of the approvals coming from Round 1B’s reassessment for abandonment activities.

 GST Exemption Clarity
Alberta Energy has updated the SRP website to include the following clarification about GST eligibility and how it is to be invoiced. Licensees are responsible for GST on SRP programs. 

 “Abandonment, remediation, and reclamation work activities conducted under an SRP contract are not GST exempt. However, GST is not eligible for SRP grant funding. For this reason, SRP funding will not cover the GST that is included on invoices from the oil field service company to the licensee. While GST will show up on your invoice, do not include GST as part of the total amount requested for your interim and final grant payment requests. SRP contractors will not receive grant funding to cover GST.” - Alberta Energy

 Round 1, 2, and 1B
The first rounds of the SRP are currently closed and all funding has been allocated. Rounds 1 and 2 opened with challenges in which Alberta Energy has worked to rectify through rounds 1B and future rounds.

• Round 1 and 2 were each comprised of $100 million in grant funding

• Unallocated funds from the first 2 rounds were dispersed through Round 1B

 Round 1B was developed to help remedy some of the issues that were identified through the preceding rounds including surface approvals prior to downhole abandonment approvals, inconsistent contract review process. Declined grant application for abandonment work from round 1 was rereviewed for possible approval. 1B did not readdress remediation or reclamation applications.  

 Round 3
Round 3 of the SRP grant funding is currently open with applications being accepted until March 31, 2021. This round is comprised of $100 million in funding allocated to each active site licensee in the province (amounting to up to $139,000 per licensee).

 A list of eligible Licensees can be viewed here: Round 3 Eligible Licensees 

• Projects are eligible for 100% funding up to the $139,000 funding allocation

 Approvals for Round 3 have started to come in and licensees are encouraged to take advantage of the $139,000 in available allocation. To date, Summit has received a 100% approval rate on Round 3 submissions. 

 Round 4
Round 4 of the SRP grant funding is currently open with applications being accepted until March 31, 2021. This round of $100 million in funding is allocated to licensees who have nominated area-based closure (ABC) plans to the AER prior to the 2020 spending targets being paused. 

 A list of eligible licensees and their allocations can be viewed here: ASRP Round 4 Eligible Licensees 

• Co-pay element has been introduced into this round with projects being eligible for up to 50% grant funding with the licensee responsible for paying the remainder.

• Inclusion of indigenous contractors has been introduced increasing the grant funding eligibility to 100% of the project value

 Summit has existing relationships and agreements in place with indigenous communities and companies across the province to help ensure licensees are able to receive 100% funding through this round. These relationships are established as meaningful engagement providing businesses, labor, and training opportunities in the local indigenous communities. We believe that this approach will bring significant benefit for all parties beyond the tenure of the SRP. 

 Round 5
Round 5 of SRP guidelines for grant funding are anticipated to be released in December 2020. Alberta Energy is incorporating the feedback from OFS and industry to improve upon the initial rounds to address issues and challenges that were identified. This round is anticipated to be $300 million in funding. Specific details for round 5 have not been released, however, some of the anticipated information includes: 

• Funding allocation will be the preferred approach

• Allocation will consider historic and current licensee closure activities and producer production levels

• Continuation of the co-pay element from Round 4

• Continuation of indigenous engagement related incentives

• Lag period between guideline release and application opening

Summit encourages all licensees to ensure their closure activities are up to date in OneStop to optimize their Round 5 allocation. OneStop has been identified as one of the tools that Alberta Energy will be using to evaluate closure activity. Our project management team is ready to assist you in your preparation for Round 5. 

 Working for you

Summit has developed the required contracts to aid in the application of this program. Our team is ready to help develop estimates and applications helping you manage your site closure activity from Surface Abandonment through to Reclamation and all scopes between.  

 Contact Summit

Please reach out to your Summit Project Manager or Representative if you have any questions or would like your sites applied for this grant.