SB532: Orphan Oil and Gas Well Prevention Act of 2024

Legislative Summary

The purpose of this bill is to prevent oil and gas wells form being orphaned on surface owner's land with no responsible driller or operator with the resources to plug the well. The bill: -Does not make any changes in bonding requirements for wells that are not producing in paying quantities. -Requires new wells to either post a single well, full cost plugging bond, or to start at the beginning of production to set aside money in an interest bearing account in the State Treasurer's office to plug the well at the end of its life. -Requires transferred wells either to post a single well, full cost plugging bond or to start setting aside money in an interest bearing account in the State Treasurer's office to plug the well. -Requires existing wells that are producing in paying quantities to set aside 15 cents per MCF in the State Treasurer's office to plug the well. -Requires operators to plug wells that were in violation of the law before that operator transferred the well to another operator if the new owner of the well does not plug the well. -Allows the owners of the surface where the well is located to defer the plugging of the well as long as that surface owner owns the land, and as long as the well is not causing environmental etc. problems. -Requires an operator drilling a new well to plug all orphaned and abandoned wells in the well's drainage area, and authorizes that driller to recover the cost from any responsible operator of the well.