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Considering a Federal Program to Permanently Plug and Abandon Offshore Oil and Gas Wells

Columbia | School of International and Public Affairs
Center on Global Energy Policy

Mark Agerton, University of California-Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and nonresident scholar at the Center for Energy Studies housed at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy

Siddhartha Narra, Research Associate, º£½ÇÉçÇø Center for Energy Studies

Brian Snyder, Associate Professor, º£½ÇÉçÇø Department of Environmental Sciences

Gregory B. Upton, Jr., (corresponding author), Associate Professor - Research, º£½ÇÉçÇø Center for Energy Studies

Part of an oil and gas research initiative at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, this report examines offshore plugging and abandoning (P&A) liabilities. The research is meant to provide guidance to federal policy makers during the formulation of P&A programs. Objectives include 1) reducing taxpayers’ future financial P&A liability for orphan wells, 2) reducing environmental risk, and 3) preserving or increasing employment alongside goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.

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