Page 43: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2026)

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WELL ABANDONMENT PLUGGING ORPHAN WELLS

All images courtesy Well Done Foundation

PLUGGING

ORPHAN WELLS

UNDERWATER:

Why Marine

Operations Are a

Diferent Beast Entirely

By Curtis Shuck, Chairman and Founder, Well Done Foundation hen most people think about orphan oil merged. These wells pose heightened environmental risks and gas wells, they picture rusting well- and are often diffcult to access.

heads hidden in felds, forests, or forgotten

W corners of rural America. Those land-based

Same Goal, Diferent Execution wells are indeed a massive environmental challenge, but they Whether on land or underwater, the objective of plug- are only part of the story. Beneath our rivers, wetlands, bay- ging a well is the same: isolate the hydrocarbon-bearing for- ous, and coastal waters lies another category of orphan wells mations and permanently stop leaks. The execution, how- that presents a far more complex operational problem. ever, changes dramatically once water enters the equation.

On land, crews can typically drive trucks directly to the well site. Equipment is staged on a dirt pad. The wellhead

How Many Orphan Wells are Underwater?

There is no single federal database that neatly categorizes is visible and accessible. Cement trucks, wireline units, and “underwater orphan wells,” but we can triangulate credible support vehicles can come and go with relative ease.

estimates using available data. Recent studies suggest there In underwater environments, access becomes the frst are roughly 14,000 unplugged, non-producing wells in the major hurdle. Equipment must be positioned using barges,

Gulf of Mexico alone, and approximately 90% of those lift boats, jack-up rigs, or, in some cases, cranes operating wells are in shallow water, making them accessible by lift from shore. Every pump, tank, and tool must be loaded boats or jack-up rigs. onto a vessel, or lifted or carried to a staging platform,

Beyond the Gulf, inland waterways represent an even secured, and carefully coordinated. As long as work can murkier challenge. States such as Louisiana, Pennsylvania, be reached from the shore, complexity remains manage- and Ohio have thousands of legacy wells located in wet- able. However, once operations exceed "the reach from the lands, riverbeds, and bayous. Estimates suggest that up to beach,” everything escalates into a fully foating operation 35 percent of all orphan wells nationwide may be located with exponentially more moving parts.

near or within water sources, even if they are not fully sub- Even the fnal step looks different. On land, casing is

MAY/JUNE 2026 OFFSHORE ENGINEER 43