Great investigative journalism, Mr Marston! I wonder if the author of this article did the same? Note, your googling skills do not match the reality of the situation. 1) dry holes (25% of early wells) do not constitute a high threat, 2) non operating wells are different than abandoned wells, 3) good practice would include cementing of the non operating wells (as noted in the article was done for this specific well). I stand by my “opinion” that “millions of abandoned wells” is overstating the reality

In 1981, there were over 90,000 wells drilled in the US. The US was the top oil producer in the world until the late 1970s. We drill a fraction of the wells we drilled in the 1940s, 1950s, etc. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/showtext.php?t=ptb0405

No, it wouldn’t, just like counting cars produced before 1900 in the total population of cars. The first oil well you refer to was less than 100 ft deep and took several months. Now they go down 10,000 ft, turn 90 deg and go a few miles horizontally in less time. So, not counting the few wells before 1914 does not matter much. In 1920, the US produced about 1.5 MM bbl/day. Today we produce over 13 MM. my 3 mm number was already extremely over conservative as there was no way we were drilling more than 10,000 wells/day even 50 years ago.

The first natural gas well was drilled in 1821, Fredonia, Chautauqua County, New York. 200 years of drilling for natural gas.

Do you want to redo your above calculus?

Meanwhile, the United States was the biggest oil producer in the world until the 1920s. Why did you leave out early history? Would that skew your math?

The first oil well was drilled in Titusville Pennsylvania in 1859.

The reference for the Reuters article is this. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2018-04/documents/ghgemissions_abandoned_wells.pdf

there is a lot of guesswork in that study, I would not trust it. Let’s do some simple math. 2014 was one of most prolific years for well drilling in the US. 30,000 wells were drilled. I can guarantee very few wells drilled in the last 10 years have been abandoned. While the technology did not exist even in the last 50 years, let’s assume that from 1914 to 2014, 30,000 wells were drilled every year. That amounts to 3,000,000 wells. 3.3 Million if you count the last 10 years. Subtract 1 million current operating and you have 2.3, which is what EPA is claiming. That is nonsense. I do agree that the 160,00 quoted in the hill article from the Dept of interior seems low but it may be in the definition of what is considered abandoned. Most operating units have large amounts of non operating wells at any given time but they are monitored and maintained, not abandoned with no owner.

The U.S. has more than double the amount of abandoned oil and gas wells than previously thought, according to a preliminary analysis by the Interior Department.

In a memo Wednesday, the department said there are currently more than 130,000 documented abandoned, or orphaned, wells. Comparatively, a 2019 report from the Interior documented a total of 56,600 orphaned wells across 30 states. Across the entire country they found that the number of abandoned wells in that report ranged from zero to 13,226.