First published Dec. 11, 2025 at The Narwhal. Read the full story here.

The Alberta Energy Regulator appears to have ignored a direct ministerial order meant to protect rural municipalities and prevent struggling oil and gas companies from obtaining new licences, data obtained by The Narwhal reveals.

At issue is a transfer of 170 oil and gas wells, 30 related facilities and 47 pipeline licences to Calgary-based MAGA Energy in September 2024 despite the company owing unpaid taxes to Sturgeon County, just north of Edmonton. 

A ministerial order, first signed in 2023, prevents the regulator from approving the transfer of licences to any company owing more than $20,000 in unpaid taxes unless there’s a payment plan in place. 

Data obtained by The Narwhal shows MAGA Energy owed more than $200,000 in taxes to Sturgeon County at the time of the transfer — more than 10 times the limit. The county told The Narwhal MAGA Energy violated an agreement to repay a portion of those taxes owing from 2023, and that it alerted the regulator in March 2024 that MAGA Energy was non-compliant.

The regulator touts its power to approve licence transfers as a primary tool for weeding out bad actors in the oilpatch and says indications of financial difficulties, including tax arrears, will trigger a deep dive into a company seeking licences. 

Critics say the MAGA transfer is just one example of a far bigger problem.

“Every time I hear the Alberta Energy Regulator say, ‘This transfer process is the backbone of our liability management system,’ I mean, I almost throw up my breakfast,” Shaun Fluker says. A law professor and head of public law clinic at the University of Calgary, Fluker’s “seen nothing to back up that statement, and what you uncovered here is really just a very quantifiable illustration of that.”

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