There are tens of thousands of inactive offshore oil and gas wells that remain unplugged in the U.S., posing the risk of possible leaks into the ocean, according to new research.
Kari Goodnough/Bloomberg via Getty Images
There have been about 82,000 wells drilled in the Gulf of Mexico coastal waters in Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, according to the paper. The researchers combined federal and state agency data on offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico and found that 14,000 non-producing wells have not been plugged and abandoned. There are more inactive, non-producing wells that have not been plugged and abandoned than currently active wells in this region, the researchers found.
A pelican rests on a piling with an oil rig in the background, April 18, 2011 in Dauphin Island, Ala.Wells closer to the surface tend to be shallow, therefore any oil leaks would be more likely to affect the coastal ecosystem, Mark Agerton, assistant professor at the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis, told reporters in a news conference on Wednesday.
Federal and state rules require operators to plug and abandon wells after the production of oil or gas stops, which involves placing cement plugs in the wellbore and the upper portion of the well. This can prevent hydrocarbons and other forms of environmental pollution from on leaking from the well, and prevent underground saltwater from polluting fresh groundwater reservoirs, according to the paper.
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