Across the United States, millions of wells on former oil and gas fields lie abandoned, some of them with unknown locations. As NPR notes, “For those who can potentially be affected by these wells, just having rules that will protect them is a priority.”
In a recent blog post, RFF’s Jacqueline Ho, Alan Krupnick, and Katrina McLaughlin identify a number of reasons why inactive wells aren’t always decommissioned properly, including high decommissioning costs, loose requirements for allowing wells to remain in temporary abandonment status, and a lack of financial accountability for well operators. They argue, “the scope of the wells deserving concern should be expanded to include all inactive wells—any wells that have not produced oil or gas for a meaningful period of time (typically 30 days or more). All inactive wells carry environmental (and financial) risk.”
Read more:
- Plugging the Gaps in Inactive Well Policy (new report)
Ho, Krupnick, and McLaughlin, with RFF coauthors Clayton Munnings and Jhih-Shyang Shih, provide recommendations for reforming the regulation of inactive wells. - Who Pays to Plug Inactive Oil and Gas Wells? (infographic)
The average costs of decommissioning orphaned wells often exceed the average required industry bond amount in each state, leaving states with the bill for cleanup.
RFF on the Issues connects today’s pressing news with related research and expertise at RFF.
