Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

Published in

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 14(118), 2021

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2013894118

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Public data from three US states provide new insights into well integrity

This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Significance There are over 900,000 active oil and gas wells in the United States. Estimates of the percentage of these wells that leak during their lifetime have been limited by data availability. We mined publicly available records from state regulatory databases and synthesized the results of various well testing methods into a uniform dataset that describes the integrity of 105,031 wells. Our analysis of the dataset provides insight into regional well leakage frequencies in three US states (Colorado, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania), spatial and temporal leakage trends among vertical and directional wells, and the characteristics of leaked fluids. Our findings demonstrate the value of statewide well testing programs and highlight the challenges of interpreting disparate interjurisdictional well testing data.