Five years after the Obama administration promised to move swiftly to permanently plug unused oil and gas wells in the Gulf of Mexico, even more shafts are lingering for longer periods with only temporary sealing, an investigation by The Associated Press shows.
It is not clear how many incompletely sealed wells may have leaked – they generally are not monitored as carefully as active wells – but they contain fewer barriers to pent-up petroleum and rupture more easily. The threat to the environment increases with time.
In July 2010, during the BP oil spill, the AP reported that the Gulf was littered with more than 27,000 unused wells, including 14 percent left with just temporary seals.
The AP’s new analysis of federal data shows that the neglect of long-idle wells has intensified since 2010, despite the federal push after the BP accident:
Twenty-five percent more wells have now stayed temporarily sealed for more than a year, jumping from 2,855 to 3,576.
Wells sealed temporarily for more than a year make up 86 percent of all temporarily sealed shafts, up from 78 percent.
The number of wells equipped with temporary barriers for more than five years has risen from 1,631 to 1,895 – a 16 percent increase.
In the aftermath of the BP spill, federal officials rolled out a program to push companies to permanently seal wells “in a timely manner.” That effort, known as the “Idle Iron” program, is beset by loopholes that essentially allow companies to delay permanent closure indefinitely, the AP found.
The government allows wells to remain temporarily sealed when companies say they intend to reuse them. However, the rules let oil companies dodge either temporary or permanent sealing on active leases simply by filing plans to make use of the well eventually. Such wells are not considered idle. Other wells without any conceivable use must be plugged after five years, but temporary sealing is then acceptable until the lease expires. Some leases have lasted for almost 70 years.
The AP analysis in May shows that 1,065 wells have been left with temporary sealing for at least a decade, up from 1,009 wells in 2010 – a rise of 6 percent.
The AP National Investigative Team can be reached at investigateap.org.
