Effective December 30, 2010, the Canadian Securities Administrators adopted amendments to National Instrument 51-101 Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities, its related forms and companion policy, a new Form 51-101F4 Notice of Filing of 51-101F1 Information, and amendments to Form 41-101F1 Information Required in a Prospectus (together, the amendments).

The amendments respond to potentially misleading disclosure practices about increased disclosure of non-commercial and estimated resource classes by:

• restricting the addition of resource classes. For example:
  • adding reserves to contingent resources, or
  • adding contingent resources to prospective resources;

• permitting the addition of resource categories:
  • when all underlying estimates that comprise the summation are disclosed, or
  • if an explanation as to why underlying estimates cannot be provided is disclosed, then a cautionary statement must be included with the disclosure; and

• addressing the increased reporting of non-reserves information, by requiring the disclosure of resources other than reserves in a similar manner as the existing disclosure requirement for reserves.

The amendments are also necessary due to the change from Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles to International Financial Reporting Standards, requiring some changes in terminology.

Oil and gas issuers should refer to the amended NI 51-101 in preparing any reports respecting their properties.