'Get lined up': Alberta gas producer's demise leaves long list of creditors and costly messes

Maureen and Wendell Strong started hearing the rumours early in 2016: Alberta landowners with Lexin Resources natural gas wells on their property weren't getting paid.

The Strongs, who had two Lexin wells on their land south of High River, and decades of experience dealing with the energy industry, waited anxiously to see if they'd receive their money.

In Alberta, most landowners don't own the mineral rights below their land and are required to allow access to energy companies that want to drill wells. Landowners like the Strongs are paid an annual lease ratethat typically totals a few thousand dollars.

"We were on the alert, watching," Maureen said, "and when the time went past, that's when we got the name of the guy atLexinand phoned him. Niceguy but he said, 'Just get lined up, we've had 700 calls on this.'"

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In March,LexinResources was forced into bankruptcy by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) an order the company is fighting in court.Documents from the case show landowners like theStrongshave plenty of company on the list of creditors seeking payment fromLexin.

They range from a small scaffolding company to Baker Hughes, one of the largest oil services companies in the world. The Alberta government isalso looking for unpaid royalties, rural municipalities are claiming unpaid taxes, and there areformerworkers who are looking for vacation pay and severance and areconcerned about their pension plan.

The province's taxpayers will be paying the surface lease cashowed to theStrongsand other landowners until Lexin's wells are either sold to other companies or plugged and cleared from their land.

Taxpayers could also be on the hook for some of that costly cleanup, which includes a list of hundreds of wells, pipelines and related facilities the company no longer operates.

Discomfort at head office

2016 was a dark time for the energy sector. Energy prices bottomed out in the winter, and there was no light at the end of the tunnel. Layoffs were mounting and bankruptcies were becoming more common. Moneywas tight across the industry.

CBC News spoke with a former Lexin Resources executive who described how the company's financial problems quickly escalated. CBC hasagreed not to use his real name because he says he's still owed money from his time at the company and is concerned about legal repercussions.He will be referred to here as Peter Jones.

He saysthe company stopped paying its creditors in late 2015. Atthat point,Lexinwas known under its previous name, MFC Energy, which would officially changetoLexinResources in February 2016. In court documents, Lexinsaid that month was approximately when its cash-flow difficulties intensified to the point where it couldn't pay creditors.

In its statement of defence against the receivership case launched by the AER, Lexin argued that a dispute with the AER escalated to the point where the regulator was garnishing funds that would have been paid to Lexin from some of its commercial partners. It said that because of the regulator's actions, its cash flow dried up and it couldn't pay creditors.

"It was across the board, no royalties to owners, no rentals to mineral owners, no rentals to surface owners," said Jones, who noted the company continued to pay employees and bills related to health and safety.

He says the situation became awkward at head office.

"I had12 staff working for me," he said. "The girls just stopped answering their phones. I was in a meeting when the first guy showed up at the front. The receptionist came back and said, 'Someone is here to see you, he's owed some money.' I was walking down the hall saying, 'Why am I in this situation?'

Frustrated mineral rights holders

The long list of creditors also includes MaryEsposito, an 86-year-old retiree who owns mineral rights south of Calgary. The rights are held in a family trust thatEspositomanages. The paymentsfrom Lexinwere erratic in 2015, she says, but she did receive them.

But in 2016, she received a bill from the provincial government sayingLexinhadn'tpaid the mineral tax and thatEspositowas responsible. If she didn't pay, she'dlose her mineral rights.

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Esposito wasn't as lucky as the Strongs, who are backstopped by the provincial government. After receiving her tax bill, Esposito wrote a letter to the provincial government. She was informed that in the case of private mineral rights, it was a business relationship between her and Lexin, and if the company didn't pay its share of mineral taxes, she was responsible.

"There was no money left in the kitty because I had distributed the money, exceptfor maybe$10, so I had to pay this out of my ownfunds, which I did,"Espositosaid.

Employees want severance

Workers like recently retired LarryNagleare also on the list. He spent his careerworking at the now-closedMazeppaGas Plant, which was part of theLexingroup of companies. He saysmany former workers are looking for severance pay.

Former Lexin employee speaks out

7 years ago

Duration 1:01

Former Lexin employees say the company owes them severance pay.

"A company like that should not be allowed to get away with treating people like they did," he said. "They broke union contracts, they let people go with no notice and they still owe those people money."

In the receiver's report, the accounting firm GrantThorntonlisted former employees as creditors, saying some are claiming unpaid wages, holiday time and severance.Ithas also heard from Alberta Treasury Branches abouta pension shortfall, which might affect retired employees such asNagle.

Well cleanup

The biggest cost will be the cleanup ofLexin'son-the-ground operations.

It operated 1,380 wells, 81 facilities, such as theMazeppaplant, 201 pipelines and was responsible for a further 145 abandoned well sites.When the AERpulled the plug on the company in February 2017, it saidLexinowed it more than $70 million in deposits to cover the reclamation of its wells and other sites. If the receivership order stands, the regulatorwill sell what it can to raise money for the cleanup of the infrastructure it fails to sell.

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Right now, the wells are the responsibility of the Orphan Well Association, which is already overwhelmed because of the oil price downturn. It has a list of more than 1,400 wells to clean up, excluding theLexinproperties.

TheMazeppaGas Plant is under the control of the AER, and it's not clear whether the plantcan be sold off and restarted. The pipelines that fed the plant were purged and shut down by the AER in the spring of 2016, pending repairs.

Nagle,who workedatMazeppafor decades, questions whether the plant can start up again.

"The gas plant is not safe," he said. "You could not just walk in there now and start it. There's lots to be done."

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