Historic and Modern Approaches for the Discovery of Abandoned Wells for Methane Emissions Mitigation in Oil Creek State Park, Pennsylvania

Saint-Vincent, Patricia M. B.; Sams, James I.; Mundia-Howe, Mumbi; Reeder, Matthew D.; Veloski, Garret; Pekney, Natalie J.

doi:10.1007/s00267-020-01420-3

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

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“…Conventional and unconventional well drilling in the Marcellus Shale has substantially increased the presence of both active and idle wells that are not producing in the Commonwealth. Moreover, Pennsylvania is the home of the first oil well in the entire country and hundreds of thousands of wells have been drilled since the discovery of oil in Titusville in 1859 (Saint-Vincent et al, 2021). Before 1955, there were no regulations and methods to track and classify oil or gas wells that were drilled, and they can be difficult to identify with the naked eye.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Scourge of Orphaned and Abandoned Wells: Leveraging Public-Private-Citizen Collaboration to Solve a Big Problem

Mallinson

Ali

Guo

et al. 2022

Public Works Management & Policy

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Orphaned and abandoned wells are emblematic of the challenges of abandoned infrastructure. With over 2.5 million idle wells in the United States, this is a large problem that requires engagement across the public, private, non-profit, and civic sectors. This article conducts a focused case study on orphaned and abandoned well reclamation in Pennsylvania. Elite interviews, government document review, and scholarly literature reveal the barriers to effective collaboration across the sectors, but also substantial potential. Using the public-private-citizen partnership (PC2) and collaborative governance regime (CGR) frameworks, the article proposes a PC2 CGR that could leverage the influx of federal well plugging funds for greater effectiveness in solving this big problem. The case also holds lessons for other states and other sources of abandoned infrastructure.

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confidence: 99%

The Scourge of Orphaned and Abandoned Wells: Leveraging Public-Private-Citizen Collaboration to Solve a Big Problem

Mallinson

Ali

Guo

et al. 2022

Public Works Management & Policy

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Identifying sulphurous water discharge from legacy oil and gas wells using spectral band analysis of aerial and satellite imagery

Galaszkiewicz,

Delaney,

Steelman

2024

Geomatica

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Procedure for locating oil and gas wells in the Appalachian Basin

Reeder,

Sams,

Gorantla

et al. 2023

The Leading Edge

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Locating undocumented (or poorly documented) oil and gas wells for environmental assessment is often difficult. Remnant features that confirm the presence of a well (intact casing/wellhead, well bore, etc.) are typically less than a meter in size and often are obscured from direct observation on the ground or from the air (by dense vegetation, for example). To efficiently find such features, it is useful to first systematically compile publicly available digital data at progressively smaller scales prior to embarking on field campaigns. The information presented here describes the procedure developed and used by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory to locate potential oil and gas well sites for follow-up field verification and characterization. Digital data are first compiled from national and state resources such as well location/production databases, historical topographic maps, historical aerial photographs, and LiDAR data. Although each data set is likely to be incomplete or inaccurate to some extent, combining the data resources using geographic information system technology can generate potential well site targets with a higher degree of confidence, which improves the efficiency of fieldwork activities. This workflow was developed in the Appalachian Basin region, and although certain aspects may be unique, the general process would be applicable to locating undocumented wells in other regions.

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Historic and Modern Approaches for the Discovery of Abandoned Wells for Methane Emissions Mitigation in Oil Creek State Park, Pennsylvania

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

The Scourge of Orphaned and Abandoned Wells: Leveraging Public-Private-Citizen Collaboration to Solve a Big Problem

The Scourge of Orphaned and Abandoned Wells: Leveraging Public-Private-Citizen Collaboration to Solve a Big Problem

Identifying sulphurous water discharge from legacy oil and gas wells using spectral band analysis of aerial and satellite imagery

Procedure for locating oil and gas wells in the Appalachian Basin

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