Our Mission

Effective January 1, 2006, the Texas Legislature established a new program (Section 89.048 of the Natural Resources Code) allowing the State of Texas to reimburse surface estate owners up to 50% of the cost of plugging Orphan Wells on their property.  Under the law, a surface estate owner is defined as the owner of interest in the surface estate of a tract of land on which an orphaned well is located. An "orphaned well" is defined as a well for which the Commission has issued a permit, for which production of oil or gas or another activity under Commission jurisdiction has not been reported to the Commission for the preceding 12 months, and whose operator's Commission-approved Form P-5, Organization Report, has been lapsed for more than 12 months.  

The surface estate owner must contract with a Commission-approved well cementer to plug an orphaned well on his or her property. The list of approved cementers is available on our Resources Page and the Commissioner's website. 

Our landmark program, Drill One. Plug One., provides a clear path for the oil and gas industry to meet its environmental, social and corporate responsibilities, while maintaining balance between regulation and opportunity.    

Texans will benefit from Native State Environmental, Inc. conducting a methane emission study around a group of adopted orphan wells. 

Objectives

Proposed studies can aid Native State Environmental-­led efforts to plug orphan wells through:

• Determining the extent of air quality impacts and greenhouse gas emissions associated with orphan wells, and
• Providing a data-­driven framework to identify high-­emitting wells that can be prioritized for plugging and site restoration.

Background

Many orphan wells remain unplugged and are not monitored due to a lack of resources by government agencies, which are increasingly responsible for more wells. Recent measurements have shown that abandoned and orphan oil and gas wells are sources of methane to the atmosphere. In addition to contributing to air quality degradation and increased greenhouse gas emissions, orphan wells are subsurface leakage pathways, linked to groundwater contamination. Therefore, mitigating leaky orphan wells can improve air and water quality and contribute to human health and ecosystem benefits.

Proposed Study

The steps are:

1. Geospatial analysis. Geospatial analysis of well locations and attributes to develop an efficient sampling protocol. For example, study costs can be reduced in regions with high well densities and easy access. At the same time, sampling protocol will be designed to minimize bias and increase the representativeness of the sample to the entire population of wells within target areas (e.g., Texas).
2. Field measurements. Ground-­‐based measurements will be conducted to estimate methane emission rates from abandoned/orphan wells. The measurements will be conducted using a two-­‐step process: (1) screening-­‐level survey of methane concentrations in the atmosphere surrounding wells, and (2) detailed ground-­‐based measurement of methane emission rates (e.g., using chamber-­‐based methods).
3. Data analysis to determine optimal methane emission reduction strategy. Data to be analyzed include well locations/attributes, methane emission rates, and plugging costs.