The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining issued a press release on Tuesday announcing that they have been awarded $5 million through the Department of the Interior’s State Orphaned Wells Initial Grant to accelerate work to eliminate safety risks posed by abandoned oil and gas wells. “Our goal with this program is to reduce the orphaned well inventory in Utah to zero and to plug newly orphaned wells shortly after they come before the Board of Oil, Gas and Mining,” says OGM Engineering and Geoscience Manager Megan Crocker. “With this new funding and our contracting strategy, we aim to decrease the amount of time that wells stay in orphan status after going before the Board, ensuring these orphan wells are safely plugged, and the land is reclaimed in a timely manner.” Work got underway at the end of March in the Uintah Basin and will expand to southeastern Utah. Currently, there are 24 wells that the division plans to plug within the next two years and an additional 34 wells that another operator might take over. If they don’t, the division will plug them. More wells will be added as they become orphaned. The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining also announced they finalized a five-year master service agreement with Utah-based Peak Well Services to manage downhole operations, while a separate contract for surface reclamation is currently out to bid. Together, these contracts will enable a streamlined, statewide approach to site restoration. The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining Orphan Well Plugging Program was established in 1992 and has since plugged 154 wells for $5.8 million, funded by oil and gas producers through a two-tenths of one percent levy on the value of production. The Division of Oil, Gas and Mining press release concluded that they remain committed to reducing Utah’s orphan well inventory while protecting the state’s natural resources through ongoing, coordinated plugging efforts. For more information about the program, visit ogm.utah.gov/orphan-well.
