orphan wells

The COVID-19 disaster and a catastrophic fall in oil prices could leave the state on the hook for billions in environmental cleanup costs if oil and gas companies go bankrupt during the health crisis, New Mexico's top land official says.

The Louisiana agency overseeing oil and gas drilling has seen a 50% increase in orphaned wells the state must pay to plug because they’ve been abandoned by their operators, according to a new audit by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office.

Across the West, thousands of oil and gas wells sit idle on federal lands, and many are orphaned with the companies that drilled them now defunct. These orphaned wells can pose environmental and safety hazards, but, as critics note, the Bureau of Land Management does not have a good way of tracking

A new regulation includes provisions related to the timely abandonment of "dormant sites," a new site classification that refers to inactive wellsites operated by solvent companies.

Kentucky lawmakers have introduced House Bill 199 to plug orphaned oil and gas wells and abandoned storage tanks that threaten health, safety, and the environment.

When energy companies go bankrupt, the cleanup of their old oil and gas wells must take priority over paying off creditors, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled on 31 January.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has announced a 7-part plan to improve safety, with plugging of orphan wells at the top of the list.

You’ve heard about the earthquakes; the controversial claims of flammable tap water; and the potential contamination of streams, lakes, and drinking water aquifers, but the system that’s supposed to pay for these calamities may itself be a pending disaster.

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