What happens to abandoned oil and gas wells in Texas?

Joe Cress, a district director at the Texas Railroad Commission, describes how the agency plugs abandoned oil and gas wells - an effort to ward off pollution when a company walks away after drilling a well. He is standing alongside a state-funded plugging operation in Coryell County. The state is tracking thousands of abandoned wells, and the list is growing. With its revenue dwindling, the agency is asking the legislature for more money to prevent cuts to plugging operations.
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[@MalluStyleMultiMedia]

Excellent video.. learning something new everyday. Thanks

[@ottomatic3123]

Fascinating. Oil and gas drilling is a mystery to most of us.
I don't know why Texas can't raise the industry's contribution to the fund instead of making the people pay for it the shortfall. Either way, I hope that sufficient funding to perform this necessary work is provided.

[@farkhadhuseinov5246]

are there any standards for abandoned oil and gas wells?

[@Deusmecumest]

If you seal the bore with cement at different depths. How do you get the secondary or tertiary cement plugs to float above the mud? or are they just stacked consecutively?

[@J.Cameron.Stuart.Adams.]

Calo Q. The latter. Stacked. Layered mud and cement all the way up.

[@bwoodard907]

He’s talking about cementing on top of plugs that are set in the well bore and filling it up where the perforations and/or zones of oil and gas would be so they can’t get into the hole and seap upward into the water tables or earth following the pipe or the outside of the casing so the cement sits on top of a plug usually set by the drilling crew using drill pipe, then they pump cement down the drill string pulling up slightly the whole time while pumping cement down the drill string to a calculated number of barrels returned up top of mud or brine and pump strokes. Then. They wait for a few hours while they blow everything down and rig up testing equipment to pressure up the inside of the casing against the BOP bag usually and hold a certain pressure for a period of time on a recording chart and if it passes they bleed off easy until zero and pullout of hole. Then rig up for the next run!

[@Deusmecumest]

Thanks. Very interesting. And makes sense. The wheigh of the cement holds the plugs in place and fills all the nooks and cracks above.

[@Hendrikhendrik-om5ys]

what gets into the ground when oil and gas are taken up? what material has the ability to stabilize the subsoil as good as oil and compressed gas nothing can replace Oil and Gas so subsoil worldwide is and will be unstable.

[@majorproduction3990]

It all depends

[@ibetatestedyourmother]

Where in the county was this??

[@saintracheljarodm.holy-kay2560]

Well if they have been filled there's a new company in Texas that I'd looking for dead wells too use for a kinetic energy generator only the bottom needs To be sealed. Understanding how they is the easy part. It's a very viable solution too create green energy. 2022,19,06

[@sircampbell1249]

Why didn't the state get up and making MONEY ?

[@duckco1]

wow I've never seen a drill crew sit so much

[@truepcs]

It shows it is a "State Job", it requires doing a lot of S (Sitting and Standing)

[@marklvrd]

its amazing what one can do with a computer now...

[@devvanbutler2758]

what else are you going to do, they are drilling with a swivel and washing it with a pump truck. it aint like they are tripping down to set a bridge plug or running production back in. I would do the same sit down while drilling. that is a easy job take a break while you can. its a 100 degrees out there and someone has to watch the swivel and someone has to watch the pump truck. that crew looks like it is working to me. gg.

[@brianniziol6479]

Sounds logical but we used to do it at -30 so sitting was not an option.

[@bourbonfan1]

if your gloves are clean, and your ass is dirty
you a lazy sum bitch, or a bole weevil

[@gooooooootooooooo3825]

Seament.

[@saikou1490]

gotta pump seament down the tubing

[@kennethjohnson5180]

Perforation is done and then pumped with cement abandonment

[@GAMEBLURMOMENTS]

In the future can a well be unplugged once its plugged?

[@sircampbell1249]

Would think so , but time to remove all the cement would be cheaper to drill a new hole..

[@jlo7770]

Yes but you have to drill through the cement which isn't a big deal, and then you'd have to drill or mill up the bridge plugs or cement retainers. That can take a few hours to a few days. Depends on the depth and the number of plugs in the well. Back in ought 10 there was a lot of companies doing re entry drilling up here

[@xushenxin]

there is no oil? If so, why need to seal it?

[@ottomatic3123]

I'm no expert, but it will emit dangerous gases and/or polluted water.

[@finscreenname]

@phantasm the tall man guess you never heard about the baby falling down the well....

[@SegoMan]

@@finscreenname only the small ones if its a 5-1/2" casing.. then thy have to open a valve first..

[@joshualhughes2778]

Proud rig company right there, even the driller sitting on his azz,

[@Hendrikhendrik-om5ys]

Clima! I also think strange things happen with the earth's subsoil. Of course, the inner core of the world is growing because humans have been taking Oil and Gas out of the earth since 1846, and therefore there is room for the inner core to grow, and therefore the heat of the earth is growing from within.

[@victoryfirst2878]

There are tens of thousands of wells that need to be plugged. Wells should be concreted from bottom to top. What the hell is taking you so long.