Federal funding for orphaned wells P&A

Alan Bailey

for Petroleum News

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has issued an order for the use of federal funding for the plugging, abandoning and remediation of some orphaned wells in Alaska. The agency has contracted with ASRC Energy Services Alaska Inc. to conduct the plugging and abandonment work. The funding comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed by Congress in 2021 -- the act included a provision of $3.5 billion in federal grants for the plugging, abandonment and remediation of orphaned wells in state and private land in the United States.

AOGCC is the state agency with responsibility for administering the plugging and abandonment program in Alaska. The program that AOGCC has initiated encompasses 10 wells, although the agreement with ASRC Energy Services may be expanded in the future to include additional wells, AOGCC says. Since the work is being conducted for AOGCC using federal funding, ASRC Energy Services will not require bonding in association with the work.

The oldest of the wells is an oil exploration well completed in 1929 at Chickaloon on the Glenn Highway. The other wells were completed between the early 1950s and late 1960s. Two are oil exploration wells located onshore near Goose Bay, on the west side of the Knik Arm. Four are oil exploration wells drilled next to the Parks Highway, northwest of Houston. One is a stratigraphic test well, drilled in the same area. Two wells are oil exploration wells drilled next to the Glenn Highway -- one at Chickaloon and one near Eureka Roadhouse. And one well is an oil exploration well drilled on the North Slope, about 17 miles east of the Sagavanirktok River.

--ALAN BAILEY