Managing Environmental Liability: An Evaluation of Bonding Requirements for Oil and Gas Wells in the United States,Environmental Science & Technology

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Managing Environmental Liability: An Evaluation of Bonding Requirements for Oil and Gas Wells in the United States
Environmental Science & Technology ( IF 10.8 ) Pub Date : 2018-03-21 00:00:00 , DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b06609
Jacqueline S. Ho ₁ , Jhih-Shyang Shih ₁ , Lucija A. Muehlenbachs ₁ , Clayton Munnings ₁ , Alan J. Krupnick ₁

Affiliation

Inactive oil and gas wells present an environmental hazard if not properly plugged. Upon drilling a well, operators are required to post a bond, which ensures that the operator has an incentive to plug and abandon (P&A) at the end of the well’s life, and that, if the state is left with the liability of managing “orphaned” wells, it can cover the cost of P&A. Using data from 13 state agencies on their orphaned well plugging expenditures, we provide new estimates of P&A costs in the United States and compare them to bond amounts. Current state bonding requirements are insufficient to cover the average P&A cost of orphan wells in 11 of these 13 states. These should be reviewed and revised where necessary. We also examine the factors influencing P&A costs using detailed data on orphaned wells in Kansas. Given the variability of P&A costs, bonds would be more effective if they varied by factors that are meaningful in explaining P&A costs, such as well depth, location, and proximity to groundwater. State regulators can use the statistical approach developed in this paper to improve bonding requirements and to better predict the P&A costs of their orphaned wells.

中文翻译：

管理环境责任：评估美国油气井的粘结要求

如果未正确堵塞，闲置的油气井将对环境造成危害。在钻探井时，要求操作员张贴保证金，以确保操作员在井的使用寿命结束时有动力进行即插即用（P＆A），并且如果该州承担管理“孤井”，它可以支付P＆A的费用。使用来自13个州机构的有关孤井堵井支出的数据，我们提供了美国P＆A成本的新估算，并将它们与债券金额进行了比较。当前州的担保要求不足以支付这13个州中11个州的孤井平均P＆A费用。这些应在必要时进行审查和修订。我们还使用堪萨斯州孤井的详细数据检查了影响P＆A成本的因素。考虑到P＆A成本的可变性，如果债券的解释因素对解释P＆A成本有意义，例如井深，位置和与地下水的距离，则债券将更有效。州监管机构可以使用本文中开发的统计方法来改善结合要求，并更好地预测其孤井的P＆A成本。

更新日期：2018-03-21

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