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The world has committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels to avoid the most severe threats of climate change.[1] Communities across the United States rely on fossil fuel...
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Rising electricity demand. Heightened geopolitical tension. Fragility in energy markets. These are some of the big stories shaping the energy transition outlined in the International Energy Agency’s newest...
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Gender disparities in entrepreneurship are stark. Only one in every three businesses is owned by a woman.
Reports by Mark Agerton, Siddhartha Narra, Brian Snyder + 1 more • April 18, 2022
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Failure to properly plug and abandon (P&A) oil and gas wells in the United States at the end of their useful life can impose environmental costs and saddle taxpayers with cleanup liabilities. In recent years, US policy makers have expressed increasing concern about P&A issues, especially when it comes to “orphan” wells—oil and natural gas wells, either onshore or in state waters, for which no viable private company with legal responsibility exists. Prior studies of orphan wells have primarily focused on onshore wells, likely because they vastly outnumber offshore wells. But offshore wells have particular features that warrant careful study on their own: they tend to produce more, involve additional environmental and engineering considerations, and cost more to P&A.
This report, part of an oil and gas research initiative at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, examines offshore P&A liabilities to provide guidance to federal policy makers about the scope of a hypothetical government program to plug and abandon offshore wells. At least three objectives might shape the contours of such a policy: 1) reducing taxpayers’ future financial P&A liability for orphan wells, 2) reducing environmental risk, and 3) preserving or increasing employment alongside goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.
As of the end of 2020, approximately 22,000 offshore oil and gas wells in the United States were not permanently P&Aed. The authors estimate that the cost to P&A all of these wells, including wells that are currently producing, is approximately $47 billion. It should be noted that significant uncertainty remains around aggregate costs, because estimates rely on having accurate information from state and federal well databases as to the number and location of offshore wells as well as average P&A costs per well.
Additional findings from the report include the following:
The world has committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels to avoid the most severe threats of climate change.[1] Communities across the United States rely on fossil fuel...
Also in today’s newsletter, why private capital will not suffice for Africa’s climate needs
As Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to visit China, the proposed Power of Siberia 2 natural gas pipeline is likely high on his agenda.
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Reports by Mark Agerton, Siddhartha Narra, Brian Snyder + 1 more • April 18, 2022