With the end of Fiscal Year 2024 approaching for state government agencies, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission reports its funding for the state’s expanded abandoned well plugging program is dwindling.
The agency recently notified pluggers and others that, “Unfortunately, both federal and state funds supporting the effort are now at minimum levels for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.”
The Oil and Gas Division said that as a result, it was unable to take new bids on plugging projects. The agency plans to notify interested parties when funding is again available.
While remaining funds are at minimum levels, there is still enough on hand to respond to emergency plugs, officials said.
So far in the current fiscal year, Oklahoma’s well plugging effort involved $19,883,652 in funding from the federal government’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, coupled with $6,926,058 in state funding sources.
The agency indicated the response in the past year was “tremendous” and the available funds helped finance 952 operations through the IIJA well program and another 385 under the State Fund wells program. That total is more than the previous five fiscal years combined.
The Corporation Commission reported 119 participating well-pluggers from Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, Colorado and Louisiana.
The commission indicated it is in the process of preparing a new IIJA grant for the coming fiscal year.
Nationally, the IIJA included $4.7 billion invested in the plugging of orphaned oil and gas wells, and the Interior Department awarded the first round of $560 million to 24 states to begin the work.