It’s Halloween. Tonight, neighborhood streets will fill with ghosts and ghouls, on the hunt for a trick or a treat. But in Pennsylvania, the scariest monster may be a different type of zombie: tens of thousands of barely-alive oil and gas wells.
Last year, just about 75,000 conventional oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania produced less than two barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day. That means 97 percent of the state’s conventional wells sat idle, leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and posing risks to communities and the environment. In fact, 12,728 conventional wells in Pennsylvania – 16 percent of the state’s total – produced absolutely nothing in 2021. And yet, these wells haven’t been responsibly closed. Instead, they continue on in this dangerous zombie state.
Almost all of Pennsylvania’s oil and gas is produced “unconventionally” – that is, by fracking. But the state has over six times more conventional wells than unconventional wells. The problem of low- and non-producing wells is largely a problem of the conventional oil and gas industry, which as it’s been edged out by the fracking boom, has left tens of thousands of wells strewn across the state producing nothing more than a trickle.
The Internal Revenue Service and Energy Information Administration call a well that produces less than 15 BOE/day “marginal,” or “nearing the end of its economically useful life.” That is, 99.9 percent of the conventional wells in Pennsylvania are operating in this undead state.
Like at the end of a Scooby Doo episode, we can pull off the mask and see who is behind these zombie wells poisoning our climate and communities. More than a quarter of all the conventional wells producing less than two BOE/day are operated by Diversified Energy. Diversified is by far the biggest holder of idle wells in Pennsylvania – the next most prominent operator, OWS Energy, accounts for only three percent. Diversified’s name may sound familiar – we’ve written before about its shady practice of delaying oil and gas well cleanup.
Zombie wells are truly frightening. They produce little to no useful energy, while spewing potent greenhouse gasses and emitting volatile organic compounds that threaten nearby communities. The companies behind them, led by Diversified, are not doing enough to clean up their mess. It’s all trick, no treat. We must hold the oil and gas industry accountable to responsibly plug these zombie wells across Pennsylvania and the rest of the country.
Sierra Club analysis of oil and gas production data from Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection