Orphan wells in Alberta Canada refers to oil or gas well sites that have been permanently taken out of production that do not have any party legally or financially responsible to deal with decommissioning and reclamation obligations. By February 2018, there were 1,800 orphan wells that had been licensed by Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) with combined liabilities of over $110 million. Oil and gas industry companies have asset retirement obligations (ARO), a legal obligation associated with the retirement of its operations. According to the National Observer, by January 2019, there were about "80,000 inactive wells around Alberta".