The U.S. has been drilling for oil and natural gas for more than 160 years, and what to do with those wells once they are no longer productive has long been an issue, especially for those wells without a reliable party to manage their future re-use or plugging and abandonment. The issue has drawn additional attention in recent years because those “orphaned” wells can also be significant emitters of methane, a potent greenhouse gas (GHG). In today’s RBN blog, we’ll look at the number of orphaned oil and gas wells across the U.S., how they contribute to methane emissions, and discuss an approach that aims to address both issues simultaneously.
The RBN NATGAS Haynesville is a weekly natural gas fundamentals analysis focused on supply, flow, and LNG-driven demand dynamics within the Haynesville basin.
There are nearly 120,000 documented orphaned and unplugged wells across 27 states, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). To be included in the USGS total, a well generally needs to have no production for an average of 12 months, although that varies by state. The states with the most orphaned wells (red states in Figure 1 below) are Ohio and Pennsylvania, with more than 16,000 each, followed by Oklahoma, Kentucky and Illinois (dark-orange states), with at least 8,000; with several other states (medium-orange states) close behind. (We should note that there are thought to be many more undocumented wells, with the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, or IOGCC, putting that number at anywhere from 310,000 to 800,000, a result of poor recordkeeping and insufficient policy and/or enforcement over several decades.)
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About the song
“Two Birds, One Stone” was written by Drake, Kanye West, Noah Shebib and Joey Castellini. It was released as a single in October 2016 as a promotional/teaser single for Drake’s fifth mixtape, More Life, which was released in March 2017. The song went to #31 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts. Written in the wake of Drake’s highly publicized feud with Meek Mill, the song clearly disses Kid Cudi and Pusha T. While Drake and Kanye West were touring during 2016, Kid Cudi was in the midst of breaking away from West’s record label and criticized both West and Drake on his Twitter account. “Two Birds, One Stone” samples Cudi’s song “Wild’n Cuz I’m Young,” further fueling the diss factor from Drake to Cudi. Personnel on the record were: Drake (vocals), Kanye West, 40 (production, sampling).
Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham) is a Canadian rapper, singer and actor. He got his start starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation. Drake released his first mixtape, Room for Improvement, in 2006, and has been credited for helping to popularize R&B vocal stylings within hip-hop music. He has released eight studio albums, five EPs, three compilation albums, seven mixtapes, and 189 singles. He has sold over 170 million records worldwide. The Recording Industry Association of America ranks him as the top-selling digital artist of all time, with over 300 million digital downloads in the U.S. Drake has appeared in 12 motion pictures and 23 television shows. In 2022 Universal Music Group announced that Drake had re-signed with the company in a deal rumored to be valued as high as $400 million. He continues to record and tour. His next album, Iceman, is scheduled to be released later this year. He will be playing select dates in the U.K. in July and August.
"About the Song" -- written by Mickey McMahan , RBN Director of Musicology
