A First Nations workforce business is out more than $6 million after the bankruptcy of Greenfire Oil & Gas, but the company appears to be back in business, now bidding on new oilsands projects..Athabasca Work Force Solutions – an Indigenous-owned labour company based in Fort McMurray – says with Greenfire back on its feet, the company should pay the bills it wracked up..“I just don’t understand how a local Indigenous business can be taken to the cleaners as much as we have,” said Jill Sporidis, a business consultant for Athabasca..“Where is the justice, where is the support from the Alberta government? This is a case of a small Indigenous company being taken advantage of by a big oil company..“This has severely impacted on how Workforce Solutions could have grown.”.She estimated the company is out a total of $6 million..Company owner Todd Pruden said he feels “defeated, by the courts and the government.”.“There has to me something in place for accountability. Right now there is no accountability,” he said,.The case began when a company called Greenfire Oil and Gas took over the Hangingstone plant from Japan Oil and Gas for $1 in April 2018. Greenfire also took on $800,000 of the company’s debt..Hangingstone had been shuttered since the large forest fires of 2016..But in May of 2020, Greenfire declared bankruptcy, leaving creditors, like Athabasca, on the hook. They owed creditors a total of $30 million..Pruden claimed Greenfire owed it more than $3.7 million for unpaid services. Athabasca also held $2.5 million in company stock, which is now worthless..Another debt holder group of 15 private individuals were owed $2.8 million in unsecured debentures, said documents obtained by the Western Standard. And another party, Summit Partners, were owed $4.08 million in secured debt..To pay off debt, Greenfire wanted to sell the Hangingstone project, but the creditors fought the corporation in court. The Court of Queen’s Bench rejected the creditors’ claim and let Greenfire sell Hangingstone to a company called Trafigura for $20 million. The creditors appealed the original decision and on February 18, the Court of Appeal also rejected their claim..Pruden said he and other creditors had come up with the cash to buy Hangingstone themselves, but that was turned down by the courts..“We had a plan in place to get the company up and running so we wouldn’t lose the millions we had put in,” said Sporidis..On April 6, it was announced the Hangingstone project was bought by a company called Greenfire Acquisition Corporation. All of the former company’s executives were retained in the new one..They said the project will employ 50 people and pump 6,000 barrels of oil a day..But there has been no mention of paying Athabasca the money it’s owed..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
A First Nations workforce business is out more than $6 million after the bankruptcy of Greenfire Oil & Gas, but the company appears to be back in business, now bidding on new oilsands projects..Athabasca Work Force Solutions – an Indigenous-owned labour company based in Fort McMurray – says with Greenfire back on its feet, the company should pay the bills it wracked up..“I just don’t understand how a local Indigenous business can be taken to the cleaners as much as we have,” said Jill Sporidis, a business consultant for Athabasca..“Where is the justice, where is the support from the Alberta government? This is a case of a small Indigenous company being taken advantage of by a big oil company..“This has severely impacted on how Workforce Solutions could have grown.”.She estimated the company is out a total of $6 million..Company owner Todd Pruden said he feels “defeated, by the courts and the government.”.“There has to me something in place for accountability. Right now there is no accountability,” he said,.The case began when a company called Greenfire Oil and Gas took over the Hangingstone plant from Japan Oil and Gas for $1 in April 2018. Greenfire also took on $800,000 of the company’s debt..Hangingstone had been shuttered since the large forest fires of 2016..But in May of 2020, Greenfire declared bankruptcy, leaving creditors, like Athabasca, on the hook. They owed creditors a total of $30 million..Pruden claimed Greenfire owed it more than $3.7 million for unpaid services. Athabasca also held $2.5 million in company stock, which is now worthless..Another debt holder group of 15 private individuals were owed $2.8 million in unsecured debentures, said documents obtained by the Western Standard. And another party, Summit Partners, were owed $4.08 million in secured debt..To pay off debt, Greenfire wanted to sell the Hangingstone project, but the creditors fought the corporation in court. The Court of Queen’s Bench rejected the creditors’ claim and let Greenfire sell Hangingstone to a company called Trafigura for $20 million. The creditors appealed the original decision and on February 18, the Court of Appeal also rejected their claim..Pruden said he and other creditors had come up with the cash to buy Hangingstone themselves, but that was turned down by the courts..“We had a plan in place to get the company up and running so we wouldn’t lose the millions we had put in,” said Sporidis..On April 6, it was announced the Hangingstone project was bought by a company called Greenfire Acquisition Corporation. All of the former company’s executives were retained in the new one..They said the project will employ 50 people and pump 6,000 barrels of oil a day..But there has been no mention of paying Athabasca the money it’s owed..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
