{"id":25034,"date":"2026-07-13T17:23:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/?p=25034"},"modified":"2026-07-13T17:23:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T21:23:41","slug":"states-are-taking-action-to-stop-future-orphaned-wells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2026\/07\/13\/states-are-taking-action-to-stop-future-orphaned-wells\/","title":{"rendered":"States are\u00a0taking action\u00a0to\u00a0stop future orphaned\u00a0wells\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edf.org\/people\/adam-peltz\">By Adam Peltz<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utah and New Mexico have provided other oil and gas-producing states with a road map for addressing the long-standing and growing problem of orphaned wells.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By updating outdated well bonding requirements, both states are requiring oil and gas companies to set aside enough money to plug wells, rather than leaving taxpayers with the bill.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Orphaned wells, which no longer produce oil or gas, and no longer have a responsible operator of record, can leak oil, gas and other toxic chemicals into our air and water. If a company walks away from its legal duty to maintain and plug the well, the taxpayers are often saddled with the costs.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2336\" height=\"1753\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited.jpg\" alt=\"A rusted orphaned well looms out of the vegetation. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife employee walks in the brush in the right hand side of the image in the background.\" class=\"wp-image-25049\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4\/3;object-fit:cover;width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited.jpg 2336w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited-1536x1153.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/38\/files\/Abandoned_oil_well_FWS_13536-edited-2048x1537.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2336px) 100vw, 2336px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Federal investments&nbsp;under the&nbsp;REGROW&nbsp;Act have provided&nbsp;critical&nbsp;funds to&nbsp;find and plug&nbsp;existing&nbsp;orphaned&nbsp;wells,&nbsp;but plugging&nbsp;the backlog&nbsp;alone&nbsp;will not solve the problem.&nbsp;States also&nbsp;need stronger&nbsp;financial&nbsp;assurance,&nbsp;inactive&nbsp;well&nbsp;management&nbsp;and well&nbsp;transfer rules to keep&nbsp;today\u2019s aging wells from becoming&nbsp;tomorrow\u2019s&nbsp;orphaned&nbsp;wells.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What just happened in the world of orphaned wells:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the last&nbsp;few&nbsp;weeks, we&nbsp;and our partners&nbsp;helped&nbsp;secure&nbsp;major&nbsp;wins&nbsp;in&nbsp;New&nbsp;Mexico and&nbsp;Utah&nbsp;that modernize&nbsp;antiquated&nbsp;bonding&nbsp;rules&nbsp;and help stop&nbsp;the orphaned&nbsp;well pipeline.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both states took&nbsp;a risk-based approach to&nbsp;financial assurance requirements, applying amounts closer to the full cost of&nbsp;well closure&nbsp;for&nbsp;financially&nbsp;weaker&nbsp;operators and low- and non-producing wells, with the details tailored for each&nbsp;state.&nbsp;Both states arrived at the same key&nbsp;conclusion:&nbsp;blanket bonds covering multiple wells is a privilege, and not a right, and should only be available to operators who pose minimal risk of orphaning their wells.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Mexico<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Updated&nbsp;bonding requirements to $150,000 per well for oil and gas wells at highest risk of abandonment&nbsp;(including low-producing and inactive wells)&nbsp;more closely aligning with actual plugging costs;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Required&nbsp;operators with high-risk portfolios&nbsp;to post single-well bonding of $150,000 for all their wells;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Strengthened&nbsp;well transfer rules to prevent&nbsp;poorly-funded&nbsp;or noncompliant operators from&nbsp;acquiring&nbsp;aging wells;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Required&nbsp;marginal wells producing fewer than 90 barrels of oil equivalent in 12 months to&nbsp;demonstrate&nbsp;they still serve a useful purpose or properly plug them; and&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tightened&nbsp;rules for inactive wells by requiring operators to show wells will return to production in the future.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Utah<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tied&nbsp;financial assurance requirements to a company&#8217;s production levels and the number of wells that may be at risk of becoming orphaned;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Required&nbsp;operators with larger near-term cleanup liabilities to provide more financial assurance. Companies with&nbsp;more&nbsp;low-producing or &#8220;at-risk&#8221; wells would be&nbsp;required&nbsp;to post higher bond amounts, while lower-risk operators could continue to pay lower rates.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Limited&nbsp;the use of blanket bonds for operators with high orphan-well risk.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Texas is the next major test for orphaned wells<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Later this summer,&nbsp;the&nbsp;Texas&nbsp;Railroad Commission (RRC) will begin rulemaking for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2025\/05\/29\/texas-takes-a-step-forward-senate-bill-1150-begins-to-tackle-the-inactive-well-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SB 1150<\/a>,&nbsp;a 2025 law designed to address the growing number of the state\u2019s inactive wells.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/commissionshift.org\/news\/texas-orphaned-well-count-now-exceeds-11000-wells-surpassing-previous-record\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In January,&nbsp;Texas&nbsp;surpassed its previous&nbsp;record of 11,000&nbsp;orphaned wells and 115,000 inactive&nbsp;production&nbsp;wells<\/a>, which the RRC estimates&nbsp;will&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/energyexchange\/2025\/05\/29\/texas-takes-a-step-forward-senate-bill-1150-begins-to-tackle-the-inactive-well-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cost more than&nbsp;$15&nbsp;billion&nbsp;to plug<\/a>.&nbsp;If these wells are allowed to become orphaned, Texas taxpayers could be stuck with the costs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under&nbsp;the new&nbsp;law,&nbsp;wells drilled more than 25 years ago cannot stay inactive for more than 15 years&nbsp;and&nbsp;must&nbsp;be plugged unless they receive an extension or an approved closure plan through&nbsp;2040.&nbsp;The RRC is tasked with developing rules around this new law, including&nbsp;safeguards for transfers of inactive wells&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;stout&nbsp;ambition is&nbsp;warranted&nbsp;given the recent spike in&nbsp;this well population, the immediate precursor to orphaning.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Utah&nbsp;and New&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;have shown that states can act before wells become orphaned. Texas now has an opportunity to&nbsp;build on&nbsp;those lessons by requiring adequate financial assurance,&nbsp;derisking&nbsp;well transfers and ensuring operators either return inactive wells to productive use or plug them.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Adam Peltz Utah and New Mexico have provided other oil and gas-producing states with a road map for addressing the long-standing and growing problem of orphaned wells.&nbsp; By updating outdated well bonding requirements, both states are requiring oil and gas companies to set aside enough money to plug wells, rather than leaving taxpayers with &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":153066,"featured_media":25045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114242,1,114241],"tags":[68464,114243,495],"coauthors":[114055],"class_list":["post-25034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-end-of-life-wells","category-uncategorized","category-utah-state","tag-new-mexico","tag-orphan-wells","tag-utah"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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