Powering The Planet: The Cleanup Bill For The Fracking Boom Is Already Here; Shale Gas Drillers Are Already Abandoning Their Wells

By Justin Mikulka, Powering The Planet

This article was first published on the Powering The Planet website January 7, 2025 describing how the shale gas industry is already abandoning their wells--

In 1990 officials were warning the government that they needed a plan to make sure the costs to clean up the mess being made by the oil industry were not passed on to the public. 

If the public wants to avoid picking up the tab for the oil tycoons, it better get a plan of its own in place.

In the world of shale oil and gas production there is a concept known as “the Red Queen effect.” 

In this 2014 article, it explains that, “The ‘Red Queen’ effect refers to the relatively short lifespan of fracking wells, which tend to reach peak production earlier than conventional wells.”

The Red Queen is from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. After making Alice run faster and faster while remaining in the same place, the Queen explains the point that refers to the shale oil and gas industry.

"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.”  

Due to the fast decline rates of shale oil wells, the industry has had to keep drilling more as fast as possible to fight the fast decline of new wells. 

While the Red Queen effect and the “relatively short lifespan of fracking wells” is often discussed in relation to the profitability and potential lifetime production of the shale oil industry, one thing that is not mentioned often is that this also radically changes the dynamics of the asset retirement obligations for these wells. 

In simple terms, shale wells have much shorter economic lifespans, which means the cleanup bills for these wells may come due a few decades earlier than we’ve been told to expect.

Click Here to read the entire article.

Resource Links:

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind:  DEP: Diversified Production LLC Failed To Plug 2 Abandoned Shale Gas Wells For 42 Months + At Least 9 Other Shale Gas Wells Abandoned  [PaEN]

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP: Nucomer Energy LLC Fails To Restore Shale Gas Well Pad, Water Impoundment In Forest County For More Than 12 Years After Drilling Was Completed [PaEN] 

-- What The Shale Gas Industry Is Leaving Behind: DEP Issues 10 Violations To Big Dog Energy, LLC, Diversified Production LLC For Abandoning Shale Gas Wells; Violations For Shale Gas Abandonments More Than Doubled In 2024  [PaEN] 

[Posted: January 7, 2025]  PA Environment Digest