Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with industry stakeholders, have secured a regulation exemption from Ottawa to allow oil service rigs to move freely between the two provinces.
On June 5, 2019, the premiers of both provinces signed a memorandum of understanding to help remove provincial barriers to the movement of service rigs.
Since then, they have been urging the federal government to exempt service rigs from regulations under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act that prevent vehicles and equipment from moving efficiently between job sites in the two provinces.
Premier Jason Kenney said this federal exemption is another win for Alberta, allowing service rigs to move more freely and efficiently.
“Striking down service rig regulations is part of the Alberta government’s plan to reduce red tape, improve labour mobility and grow our economy,” Kenney said in a statement.
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Service rigs, which are large, heavy vehicles with mounted derricks that are used to service and maintain oil wells, will continue to have robust safety checks in place, such as the need to have valid permits, regular inspections and to comply with all occupational health and safety requirements.
But under the new Motor Vehicle Transport Act exemption, service rig convoys will not be required to complete daily logs or have a certified electronic logging device.