Office of Conservation

Oilfield Restoration Commission reports on latest projects and figures

Members of the state’s Oilfield Site Restoration Commission received fiscal year-end reports last Thursday, on projects in six parishes where orphaned wells have been closed through the Oilfield Site Restoration Program (OSRP). The commission meets quarterly in Baton Rouge at the La. Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation.

There were 177 wells located in Caddo, Union, DeSoto, St. Martin, Assumption and Terrebonne parishes that were on the priority list of projects to be plugged for fiscal year 2009-2010 with funding from the program. The program’s engineer Sarah Wagner also reported that some 160 orphaned wells in seven parishes are slated for closing in the FY 2010-2011 budget cycle. The total costs of the projects for FY 2009-2010, amounted to $4.2 million.

Five projects were reviewed in detail — those being the latest in completions since the commission’s last meeting in April. Those five projects included plugging 85 wells in Union, St. Martin, Assumption and Caddo parishes at a cost of $1.6 million.

Wagner also reported on a list of currently active projects in various stages located at sites in Caddo Pine Island field in Caddo parish, Monroe field in Morehouse parish, Wildcat fields in Caddo, Red River and Bossier parishes, and Darrow field in Ascension parish. The costs associated with these restoration projects are approximately $756,194.00 with two of the projects awaiting bid opening.

Overall, the OSRP collects in the range of $4 million each year from fees paid to the state from the production of oil and gas by operators. The fund is known as Act 404, which was legislatively started in 1993.

To date, 2306 wells on the orphan well list have been plugged at a cost of $64 million. These were wells and related oilfield structures that were abandoned by owners or that had no operator of record that showed risk of environmental problems, so the program addressed getting them properly removed and or closed.

The commission has ten members including DNR Secretary Robert Harper and Commissioner of Conservation James Welsh. The DNR Office of Conservation’s Program manager is Kjel Brothen.

For more OSRP details, visit on the web at /index.cfm?md=pagebuilder&tmp=home&pid=155.