Insights
Explore our collection of thought-provoking articles and stay informed about the latest trends, best practices, and insightful perspectives with expert advice from the 360 team.
A&D TRANSACTIONS: I OBJECT!
Over the past few years, acquisition and divestitures in the oil & gas industry have become increasingly cumbersome for companies. With a heightened focus on liability by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and industry, there are more instances for your transaction to hit a speed bump. If the Liability Management Rating (LMR) of the transferee…
Optimal Prime: Transforming How to Execute on Area-Based Closure
The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) recently unveiled the Area-Based Closure Program (ABC), with the goal of driving down the cost of asset retirement and inducing greater closure throughout Alberta. Full details of the program are available on the AER’s website but the premise of ABC is to incite collaboration between operators and in turn foster…
The Best Time to Plant a Tree…
“The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.” We hope that in 20 years from now, we can look back and say that we planted the trees. Over the past number of years of running a business, one of the hardest things we’ve grappled with is how…
Environmental Risk Management – The dose makes the poison
Part 2 – See our Insights section for Part 1 and for an overview of how guidelines are developed There is an old saying that the dose makes the poison, accredited to Paracelsus, the father of toxicology. We can observe this in effect when we drink alcohol, a small amount has virtually no long-term effect,…
Environmental Risk and Harm in Spills
The risk an environmental release poses does not necessarily equate to actual harm. The risk more accurately reflects the likelihood and severity of potential harm occurring. The harm that occurs is the result of numerous complex factors such as the volume of a spill, what the fluid is, how close it is to human activities…
What Happens to Chain of Title During Insolvencies?
Are oil and gas companies responsible for the end of life liabilities of assets they divest if the acquiring company goes bankrupt? This question has been reverberating throughout the oil and gas industry since the Redwater case first went to trial and with subsequent high-profile bankruptcies in Alberta. The fear is that companies will sell…
Regulator Directed Transfers – “One man’s trash…”
Transferring oil and gas wells from the AER, OWA and Defunct Licensees A common question that we get from friends on the periphery of the oil and gas industry in Alberta is why don’t people just “buy” the old wells from the Orphan Well Association (OWA) for nothing and produce them? It’s a fair question…
Spill management has changed – How does this affect your operations?
Challenging times in the oil and gas industry has put increased pressure on regulatory bodies to identify and characterize the thousands of active and abandoned remedial sites across Alberta. Since 2014, there has been increased regulatory scrutiny in the historical spill and designated problem site space, primarily in the form of Supplemental Information Request letters…
Liability – What’s Under Your Rug?
At 360, roughly 50% of our day to day activities are centered around the transaction space. Historically, the split was heavily weighted on the buy side of the transaction – evaluating and quantifying incoming liabilities and looking under the rug for outlier liabilities that could materially affect the purchase price and/or deal scope. In the past 18…
Electricity Bills Can Be A Monster: How Oil & Gas Companies Can Take the Bite Out of Them
Here at 360, we believe in Making Growth Simple. The extension to that and a founding principle of ours is that value can be found in, and should be sought, when managing asset retirement obligations (ARO). The Oil & Gas industry is currently facing a significant shift with respect to the view on ARO and the…
Ready, Fire, Aim – When and How We Take Action
In my second post, I’m following a similar theme as my first post (The Dumbest Guys in the Room), and am writing to express one of 360’s core business ideologies. The concept isn’t earth shattering, but we feel is worth sharing and reflects something we also feel has been vital to our success so far. It’s a way of…
The Dumbest Guys in the Room – How Humility Has Helped Shape Our Business
I’m always asked, ‘What’s the secret to success?’ But there are no secrets. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room. Dwayne Johnson My partners and I often joke that we are the smartest people in a room that’s empty. As that room fills up, we methodically and inevitably move…
The Full Circle
The Full Circle is a content initiative by 360 to inform, inspire, and spark conversation around a wide variety of technical and business-related topics. We endeavour to use this forum not only to inform our clients and industry about relevant topics, but also to hold ourselves accountable, grow professionally and personally, and constantly challenge the…