Alberta Chief Justice Neil Wittmann has ruled to put lenders ahead of clean-up costs when energy companies go bankrupt.
The Redwater Energy case is one that the energy sector, international investors, bankers, lawyers and regulators were all watching closely.
Redwater was a tiny oil and gas company that went into insolvency in the spring of 2015. It owned a stake in 16 producing oil and natural gas wells, as well as nearly 70 more inactive wells. It owed its bank, ATB Financial, a little more than $5 million.
Redwater’s bankruptcy trustee, Grant Thornton, wanted the ability to sell the producing wells in order to pay back debt.
However, the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) argued that any proceeds from asset sales needed…
Read the full article at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/redwater-energy-bankruptcy-1.3588209