Plugging Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells: The Effect On The Frac Tank Cleaning Industry

Oil & Gas Well

New Legislation Brings More Funding 

In 2021,  the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) was signed into law. With this, federal funding for plugging, remediating, and restoring orphan oil and gas sites will hopefully increase. The IIJA was released just before the updated IOGCC report. The IOGCC confirms in the updated report that this legislation does include money to plug orphan wells on federal, state, private, and tribal lands.

What’s in the new IOGCC Report?

The new IOGCC report released in December 2021 provides updated information 

based on new survey responses and direction from the IOGCC council. The report reveals the updated number of idle and orphan wells as well as plugging and restoration costs for old wells. 

The base of this report is to identify the need to better maintain and plug oil wells that are not in use anymore. Noted in the report there are about 231, 287 idle wells in the US.  Idle or orphaned oil wells can create a dangerous environment and risk to public safety, which is why this report distinguishes the cost to remediate them in the year. 

According to the IOGCC, the report seeks to “help states and provinces evaluate their idle- and orphan-well programs and identify useful regulatory tools and strategies from other jurisdictions.” 

Read the report summary by Natural Gas Intelligence here

Why does this matter to Frac Tank Cleaning Services?

According to the IOGCC, there will be new federal funding to accomplish their goal of better maintaining idle oil wells. This year Industrial Vacuum has done work to help oil/gas cleanup with our state-of-the-art vacuums. With the increase in funding to this industry, there is a greater need for frac site cleanup and especially efficient cleanup. Industrial Vacuum is equipped to serve this industry as it continues to grow in importance. 

Learn more about our Oil/Gas Industry Services or contact us for more information regarding oil cleanup.