PA Environment Digest

Share this:

Powering The Planet: The Cleanup Bill For The Fracking Boom Is Already Here; Shale Gas Drillers Are Already Abandoning Their Wells

By Justin Mikulka, Powering The Planet

This article was first published on the Powering The Planet website January 7, 2025 describing how the shale gas industry is already abandoning their wells--

In 1990 officials were warning the government that they needed a plan to make sure the costs to clean up the mess being made by the oil industry were not passed on to the public.

If the public wants to avoid picking up the tab for the oil tycoons, it better get a plan of its own in place.

In the world of shale oil and gas production there is a concept known as “the Red Queen effect.”

In this 2014 article, it explains that, “The ‘Red Queen’ effect refers to the relatively short lifespan of fracking wells, which tend to reach peak production earlier than conventional wells.”

The Red Queen is from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. After making Alice run faster and faster while remaining in the same place, the Queen explains the point that refers to the shale oil and gas industry.

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”

Due to the fast decline rates of shale oil wells, the industry has had to keep drilling more as fast as possible to fight the fast decline of new wells.

While the Red Queen effect and the “relatively short lifespan of fracking wells” is often discussed in relation to the profitability and potential lifetime production of the shale oil industry, one thing that is not mentioned often is that this also radically changes the dynamics of the asset retirement obligations for these wells.

In simple terms, shale wells have much shorter economic lifespans, which means the cleanup bills for these wells may come due a few decades earlier than we’ve been told to expect.

Click Here to read the entire article.

NewsClip:

-- Bucks County Beacon - Justin Mikulka: The Cleanup Bill For The Fracking Boom Is Already Here In States Like Pennsylvania

Resource Links:

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP: Diversified Production LLC Failed To Plug 2 Abandoned Shale Gas Wells For 42 Months + At Least 9 Other Shale Gas Wells Abandoned [PaEN]

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP: Nucomer Energy LLC Fails To Restore Shale Gas Well Pad, Water Impoundment In Forest County For More Than 12 Years After Drilling Was Completed [PaEN]

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP Issues 10 Violations To Big Dog Energy, LLC, Diversified Production LLC For Abandoning Shale Gas Wells; Violations For Shale Gas Abandonments More Than Doubled In 2024 [PaEN]

PA Oil & Gas Industry Public Notice Dashboard

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - Dec. 21 to 31 - Record Number Conventional, Shale Gas Abandoned Well Violations In 2024; Gas Storage Area Well Leaks [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Weekly Compliance Dashboard - January 1 to 10 - First 4 Abandoned Conventional Wells Of 2025; Methane Reduction Grant Inspections; Well Leaking Gas For 27 Months [PaEN]

-- PUC Approves $700,000 Penalty For Columbia Gas Plastic Pipeline Explosion In Clarion County [PaEN]

-- PUC Approves Settlement In 2019 Philadelphia Gas Works Explosion That Killed 2, Displaced 60 Residents [PaEN]

-- PA Oil & Gas Industrial Facilities: Permit Notices, Opportunities To Comment - January 11 [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission To Hold Jan. 30 Hearing On New General Into Basin Transfers, Water Withdrawal Requests - 6 For Shale Gas Development [PaEN]

-- DEP Posted 84 Pages Of Permit-Related Notices In January 11 PA Bulletin [PaEN]

Related Articles:

-- Powering The Planet: The Cleanup Bill For The Fracking Boom Is Already Here; Shale Gas Drillers Are Already Abandoning Their Wells - By Justin Mikulka, Powering The Planet [PA Examples] [PaEN]

-- DEP Did Over 107,000 Inspections, Found 35,237 Violations, Responded To 410 Emergencies In 2024 To Protect PA's Environment, Public Safety [PaEN]

-- Susquehanna River Basin Commission To Hold Jan. 30 Hearing On New General Into Basin Transfers, Water Withdrawal Requests - 6 For Shale Gas Development [PaEN]

-- Williamsport Sun Editorial: Fate Of Butterflies And More Depends On Us - ‘We Are The Stewards And Caretakers Of This World, The Only World That We Have, It’s Time We Started Acting Like It’ [PaEN]

NewsClips:

-- The Energy Age Blog: DEP Invites Comments On Draft Guidance For Land Application Of Excess Water From Shale Gas Well Development Impoundments

-- Bucks County Beacon - Justin Mikulka: The Cleanup Bill For The Fracking Boom Is Already Here In States Like Pennsylvania

-- Pittsburgh Business Times: Pittsburgh-Based Epiphany Environmental LLC Frack Waste Treatment Company Files For Bankruptcy - Had Proposed Plant In Potter County With 2023 PennVEST Funding [PDF of Article]

-- Marcellus Drilling News: Are U-Turn Shale Gas Wells The Future Of Drilling? One In Susquehanna County Now [PDF of Article]

-- TribLive: Environmental Hearing Board To Review DEP Shale Gas Well Permit Renewals To Apex Energy In Penn Twp., Westmoreland County

-- Post-Gazette - Anya Litvak: Abandoned Conventional Well Plugging In Western PA Could Speed Up Under Deal Reached With West Virginia Landowners, Diversified Energy

-- ABCNews: Abandoned Oil & Gas Wells Bring Fears Of Leak Dangers, ABC News Investigation Finds

-- PennLive Guest Essay: Methane Emission Reduction Is Becoming A Booming Industry In Pennsylvania - By Center for Methane Emissions Solutions

-- AAA Gasoline Prices: National- $3.06 Ohio- $2.98 PA- $3.26

-- Financial Times: Oil Price Hits 3-Month High On Strong China Demand

-- Reuters: Oil Prices Hold At 3-Month High On Stronger Demand