Canada - Oil & Gas

摘要

The Alberta Court of Appeal's decision in Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. v. Jensen Resources Ltd., 2013 ABCA 399, clarifies the law of limitations as it relates to unpaid royalties. The court emphasized that limitation issues in cases over unpaid royalties will be guided by the language of the Limitations Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. L-12, which provides that a two-year limitation period for the seeking of a "remedial order" begins to run once a claimant "first knew, or in the circumstances ought to have known" of three pertinent factors regarding its having sustained an "injury." Id. s. 3(1). Prior to Jensen, this overarching legislative standard had become obscured somewhat by the interpretation placed on language employed in a prior Alberta Court of Appeal decision on unpaid royalties. See James H. Meek, Jr. Trustv. San Juan Resources Inc., 2005 ABCA 448. Meek was construed as directing the analysis toward whether a royalty holder had "clear information" about inadequate payment or nonpayment. See Jensen, 2013 ABCA 399, para. 33. Following Jensen, it is once again clear that time may begin to run against a royalty holder even absent "clear information."