Rock Core Workshop Plugging of Orphan Oil and Gas Wells – Insights, Opportunities, and the Challenges They Present- Tom Tomastik, ALL Consulting

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PLUGGING OF ORPHAN OIL AND GAS WELLS – INSIGHTS, OPPORTUNITES, AND THE CHALLENGES THEY PRESENT

Tom Tomastik, Chief Geologist and Regulatory Specialist, CPG, ALL Consulting

With the passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $4.667 billion in funding opportunities for orphaned oil and gas well sites for plugging, remediation, and site restoration. Orphaned oil and gas wells, either unplugged or improperly plugged and abandoned, can lead to methane leaks to the atmosphere and fluid releases to the surrounding land and water environments. Funding to administer a program for plugging orphan wells on Federal land and through issuance of grants to States and Tribes on State, private, and Tribal land. Initial grants were issued to 22 out of the 25 legible states and a total of $560 million dollars have been awarded as of August of 2022. An additional $33 million dollars to plug and clean up 277 high priority orphan wells on federal lands have also been awarded.
Recent estimates of oil and gas orphaned and abandoned wells in the United States have ranged from 117,672 reported by the United States Geological Survey to over 3.2 million orphan and abandoned wells reported by Reuters in 2021. Costs to plug and abandon orphan oil and gas wells can range from tens of thousands of dollars to potentially over a million dollars depending on each well circumstances. Many of the state regulatory agencies based their plugging and abandonment requirements on the standard abandonment practices established by the American Petroleum Institute.
Obviously, this federal funding presents many new opportunities for a number of states and the elimination of thousands of orphan wells that can be sources of methane and other releases into the atmosphere and into the environment. However, the plugging and abandoned of orphaned oil and gas wells can present many challenges that requires the ability to conduct historical research, design, and perform plugging and abandonment operations with expertise and experience needed to achieve a successful outcome.

Tom Tomastik

Chief Geologist and Regulatory Specialist, CPG, ALL Consulting

 

Mr. Tomastik is a certified petroleum geologist with over 41 years of diverse expertise and experience in the energy sector, government, and consulting. Tom obtained his BS and MS in geology from Ohio University in 1979 and 1981. He has been involved in the planning, drilling, permitting and development of oil and gas and Class II saltwater disposal wells, Class I feasibility studies and permitting, injection well audits, stray gas investigations, natural gas and natural gas liquids storage, groundwater contamination investigation cases, induced seismicity, seismic monitoring and installation, and expert witness testimony. During his career, Mr. Tomastik has been involved in the drilling and completion of 26 oil and gas wells, which included the drilling, cementing, geophysical logging, perforating, plugging, hydraulic fracturing, and acid treatment of these wells. Tom also has been involved with oversight of the permitting, drilling, conversion, and completion of numerous Class II disposal wells, which included all aspects of the permit process, AFE development and contractor coordination, drilling, cementing, geophysical logging, acidizing, mechanical integrity testing, injectivity testing, and well workovers.
As a chief geologist at ALL Consulting, Mr. Tomastik has experience and expertise not only in the energy sector, but previously as a state regulator, with 25-1/2 years as a senior geologist with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), where he oversaw the planning, permitting, drilling, and conversion of hundreds of Class II and Class III injection wells using hydrogeology, geology, and engineering specialization for well construction, completion, and surface facility operations. At ODNR, as lead geologist, Tom also conducted several hundred groundwater and stray gas investigations related to oil and gas, industrial minerals, and coal mining operations in Ohio and testified on numerous occasions as an expert witness before various commissions and in the county court system. Additionally, over his career, Tom has published 61 articles or presentations on oil and gas, secondary oil recovery, salt-solution mining, cavern storage, Class I and II disposal, groundwater and stray gas investigations, Class VI and CO2 Geosequestration, hydraulic fracturing, induced seismicity, and regulatory issues.