Louisiana's oil regulator still lets drillers post bonds far too small to plug their wells, as orphaned wells keep multiplying
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An October 2024 Louisiana Legislative Auditor progress report found the Office of Conservation (Department of Energy and Natural Resources) had not updated required financial-security amounts since the auditor's 2020 audit and has no schedule to review them, even though its own rules say it will adjust them periodically. Median actual plugging costs ran $8 per foot for land wells up to 3,000 feet deep and $38 per foot in inland waters, while individual bonds require only $2 and $8 per foot, and 95.1% of bonded wells sit on blanket policies covering as many as 3,811 wells each. Orphaned wells rose 68.1% between July 2013 and April 2024 to 4,785, inactive wells rose 21.7%, and the auditor estimated $542.9 million is needed to plug the current orphaned population. DENR agreed with the recommendations.
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Contacted and made an on-record admission — exact wording not on record.
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