Plugging Progress: The Big Squeeze

Dec 21, 2022

As states set their sights on using $4.7 billion in federal funding to close a record number of orphan wells, the supply of pluggers able to do the work is struggling to keep up. The result, hyperinflation with no end in sight....

Tags: Orphan Wells

Orphan Well Update

Nov 11, 2022

Texas became the first state to plug an orphaned well using funding from the Infrastructure Act with the plugging of a well near Gordon, TX on October 26th....

Tags: Orphan Wells | Texas

Surface Casing Vent Flow: Canada’s Crutch

May 10, 2022

Surface casing vent flow (SCVF), the uncontrolled migration of liquid and gas upward through leakage pathways in the annulus, has become a major issue in Canada. While operators are taking action to intervene and prevent the escape of greenhouse gases like methane, the cards are stacked against them....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells | Canada

Making the Most of Federal Funding: REGROW Act in Action

Feb 21, 2022

With $1.15 billion in federal funding on its way, states are gearing up to make the most of their money and expanding their orphan well programs to properly deal with the scale of this problem. While some states have established orphan well programs that plug hundreds of wells per year, others have been grossly underfunded for decades....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells | Pennsylvania

Reducing Methane Now: Shutting Down “Super-Emitters”

Feb 08, 2022

A growing constellation of methane-detecting satellites is giving researchers startling new insights into “super emitters” around the globe....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells | California

Mitigating Methane: $1.15 Billion to Plug Orphan Wells

Feb 04, 2022

The White House announced it will send $1.15 billion to states to clean up thousands of methane-emitting orphaned oil and gas wells, the first tranche of allotments from the $4.7 billion that congress approved for orphaned well cleanup in the recent infrastructure package....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells | New Mexico

Wild West: Orphan Wells and the Health of West Texas Aquifers

Jan 27, 2022

Change is inevitable. In West Texas, a region with a long history of energy production and home to the most productive oil field in the U.S., invisible subsurface changes have led to drastic impacts on the land and water....

Tags: Orphan Wells | Texas

Louisiana: Funding the Future

Jan 11, 2022

Louisiana is home to 4,605 orphan oil and gas wells and plans to ask the federal government for an Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act grant to help pay the estimated $401.7 million cost of plugging them....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells

REGROW Act: Funding a Fresh Start

Nov 17, 2021

President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan infrastructure package Monday that includes funding for expanded broadband, plugging of orphaned oil and gas wells, and remediating abandoned mines....

Tags: Orphan Wells

Methane Emissions: No Well Left Behind

Nov 05, 2021

Global leaders at the Glasgow climate summit pledged to sharply curtail methane emissions, with President Biden saying the U.S. would tighten regulations on oil and natural-gas production to reduce leaks of the potent greenhouse gas....

Tags: P&A | Producing | Offshore | Orphan Wells

Orphaned Wells: The Issue at Hand

Oct 28, 2021

Throughout California and other parts of the country, thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells remain unplugged. Some have even had buildings or parks built on or around them....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells | California

Orphan Wells: Corporate, State, and Federal Responsibilities

Oct 27, 2021

Orphan oil and gas wells idled by companies that cannot pay to plug them are an issue in many states, thanks to volatile energy prices and bankruptcies caused by recent plummets in demand....

Tags: P&A | Orphan Wells | Pennsylvania