Happy Wednesday! Hope you have been enjoying cooler weather.
We love when ideas build. Back in December we blogged on Artificial
Intelligence (AI) using computer vision to find orphan wells or undocumented
wells and the promising success of the project.
Well, we are building on that concept of finding orphan wells. A local university has published a study on
the possible number of high-risk zombie wells, and with the Texas Railroad
Commission asking our legislature for tens of millions of additional funding to
plug orphan and leaking wells seems like something we should dive into.
Did anyone happen to read The
Houston Chronicle THE713 Afternoon Newsletter on October 29, 2025, their
article titled, “A single Texas county has over 600 potential ‘zombie’ wells,
study finds”? In the article they speak
on Texas’ problem of orphan and/or leaking wells and the Texas Railroad
Commission has been having to spend millions on wells which have erupted in
recent times. The University of Houston (UH)
has published an article on the topic, and they presented to the Society of
Petroleum Engineers’ Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition recently. The UH researchers were able to find and calculate
664 wells in Reeves County which they believe are at greater risk of leaking
and need to be carefully watched to protect groundwater and the Texas landscape. The researchers were able to find these risky
wells combining machine learning with available sources including satellite
imagery, wastewater injection data, and wellbore data to conclude which wells need a more thorough look. UH is hoping to
help Texas communities and the Texas Railroad Commission monitor wells in Texas
to reduce the number of ‘zombie’ wells plaguing the state with their contamination
and excess costs to plug. This year over
10,000 orphan wells have been found, and more monitoring resources will hopefully
reduce the number of wells contaminating our landscape and groundwater. We wish the researchers luck expanding their
research to more Texas communities and helping guide the Texas Railroad
Commission to more ‘zombie’ wells before it is too late. If you would like to read more of The
Houston Chronicle’s article, please click the link: Texas county has over 600 potential ‘zombie’ wells, UH study finds.
If you would like help in looking
into how to transport your product efficiently, safely, and with less of a
carbon footprint or just find out what is underneath your feet to help with
your emission reduction goals, contact us via email in the Blog and check out
our ESC website!
We hope you have a wonderful evening!
**Disclaimer: You may be charged a fee to read The
Houston Chronicle’s article. **