Heather Wright/The Independent

The Province of Ontario says it will spend another $6 million in 2026 to help cap abandoned and leaking historic oil wells.

Natural Resources Minister Mike Harris made the announcement in Essex County last Tuesday, touting $10.8 million in spending; $6 million for capping wells, $3 million for municipalities to purchase equipment to deal with emergency situations and another $1.8 million for scientific research.

That’s about $800,000 more than last year when the Harris said the government injected just under $10 million in the issue. At the time, the province said $6 million would be spent on capping abandoned wells in 2025.

“This will enhance abandoned works programs, giving more landowners funding and resources to safely, plug wells on their property,” Harris said last Tuesday making the announcement about the increase in funding for municipal governments and research.

It’s estimated there are 27,000 abandoned oil wells in the province. Upwards of 5,000 of those are in Lambton County, where the commercial oil industry began.

Harris says its not clear how much would be needed to cap all those wells.

“It would be very, very difficult to quantify, because each case is very different,” he said noting some wells are “fairly straight forward” where others may have major issues which would require a lot of remediation including air scrubbers and pressure valves.

In Petrolia, Lambton County spent $89,000 when it found old oil wells in the public works yard and they needed more cash to finish the job.

Harris added not all the wells listed are in need of repair.

“But rest assured that we’re putting our proverbial money where our mouth is and trying to address the problem as best we can” Harris said.

“We want landowners and local leaders to know that resource that the resources they need to keep their community safe will always be there for them.”

Over the last three years, the province has provided over $631,000 for to local governments for emergency equipment to deal with any issues related to uncapped wells.

Officials were not immediately able to say now much money has been spend with individual landowners in Lambton, capping wells.

Based on the Ministry of Natural Resources own data from 2024 and 2025, only 17 additional wells were capped last year across the province.

At an estimated $75,000 – the ministry’s own figure – Ontario spent $1,275,000 on abandoned well capping in 2025.

If you have an abandoned well on your property, the MNR says you should email gasandoilwells@ontario.ca with your information, the well location, any photos and information about it including a licence number, any odours coming from it and anything you have been able to find about it on geological sites pinpointing abandoned wells.

The province assesses the information by coming to your property.

If your well qualifies for the program, the MNR brings in a company to fix it however it is not clear how long that will take since the program deals with wells which are a risk to public safety according to the MNR.