38 Applied Geoscience Approaches for Legacy Oil and Gas Wells
This technical session will highlight the applied work to address the complex environmental challenges of legacy oil and gas exploration including location, data management, monitoring, risk assessment, and remediation of orphaned and abandoned wells.
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
8:00 AM - 9:30 AM
CCC, Room 26
Historical Considerations for the Planning and Performance of Orphan & Abandoned Well Plugging & Abandonment
Paper number: 38-4
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:05 AM – 9:25 AM
Authors
Abstract
Early well drillers had different priorities than exploration and operating companies have today. In some instances, well casings were not cemented, and natural gas was purposely vented to the atmosphere. Surface Casings were largely used to prevent fresh water (or even brackish/saline water) from contaminating oil reservoirs. It was common in many areas to intentionally avoid cementing well casings so that gas from intermediate zones could be vented to atmosphere. It was also common for steel casings to be removed to be re-used in other well borings. Understanding historical practices, including drilling, cementing, testing, and documentation, as well as how things may have changed in an area since a well was orphaned or abandoned can be CRITICAL when considering planning for well plugging & abandonment. This presentation will review these and other historical considerations that are critical to avoid problems and help to assure proper and permanent well plugging and abandonment.
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 58, No. 2
doi: 10.1130/abs/2026NE-411099
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