This Retired Oil Exec Wants to Plug Up Millions of Abandoned Wells Across the US
2024 ж. 19 Мам.
1 622 216 Рет қаралды
In Toole County, Montana oil is one of the biggest games in town. But these workers aren't drilling for oil - they are plugging up wells.
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It's criminal that they're allowed to leave them abandoned and unplugged.
technological advancements in the industry for capping an open well bore have completely changed the game. oil is as clean as it ever has been. i am saying this as a former oil field worker. the real issue esspecially in highly populated areas is developers are building residential developments on top of unmarked capped wells that were drilled years ago. the oil industry back then did not have the ability or wherewithal to map out capped wells and zone these areas as not suitable for building on top of.
@@treceur6195 The fact you're defending the oil and gas sector by saying it's as clean as it has ever been is kind of egregious considering the oil and gas sector uses fossil fuels to extract, refine, and transport fossil fuels instead of renewable energy.
@@firefox39693 Sure you kind of have to take sides at times. Renewable energy cant sustain this country at this point in time. Saying the industry is as clean as its ever been is a factual statement because it is. Egregious is poor word choice.
Unfortunately, many companies went bankrupt and were subsequently already liquidated. This just leaves behind criminal entities with literally no more money left and that have been dealt with.
@@treceur6195 I wasn't embellishing. It was really egregious. Given the evidence that we have, climate change has reached a point where we need to take drastic action. Oil and gas companies here in Canada, and even down in the states have abandoned thousands of oil and gas wells. Meanwhile, we have people like you, fuckin idiot Daily Wire viewers, who think climate change is something made up. Don't respond with "climate change has always been happening." I'm so tired of hearing uneducated people tell me"sure, climate change is happening. It's always been happening." Secondly, renewable energy is infinite. Solar, wind, hydro, tidal power, geothermal, together with energy storage have the capability to completely replace existing US electricity production many times over. I say that as an environmentalist, as a progressive, and as a person who strategizes energy policy and climate change mitigation policy solutions.
“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” ― Anonymous Greek Proverb
Thats a good one i like it
I like it 👌
"Everything starts with a step down a road even if your children will be the only ones to reach the destination." ---Random guy with a beard.
Dear Question Everything: Your comment is as candy coated as the sickening people in this video who all seem to say that no one is really responsible for this horrible problem. The bottom line is that Wall St, NYC is where the real government of America has always existed with Washington DC being just a Puppet Show with Wall St pulling ALL the strings. And Wall St has never cared about anything but increasing financial profit regardless of the social consequences. This horrible mess with millions of abandoned wells spewing green house gases is just one tiny example of that. And a seemingly responsible news outlet like Vice News does nothing but justifies this abuse by airing an apologist report like this one. If and when America REALLY has a government of the people, by the people, and for the people this kind of abuse will end and those who were responsible will be held to account. And all the sweet sounding platitudes in the world will never accomplish that. ... jkulik919@gmail.com
The environmental challenges are going to be solved by people like that guy and the Elon Musks of the world. Engineers that know what they are talking about and solve one problem at a time while keeping it economical so the motor that drives innovations isn't shutting down. These AOC and Greta children that are protesting and throwing tantrums while shouting for some kind of green socialism should take notes.
No good reason that a non profit company should do the capping of old oil wells, the oil companies are not poor. And are responsible.
many mom and pop oil companys do go broke ,the oil business is very expensive like a 1000% to 1% to the common consumer
@@danb7067 I think he just wanted to make some self righteous comment that would make environmentalist girls like him
Only responsible if you put guns to their execs heads.
@@danb7067 The industry as a whole is responsible for the mess and they should be responsible as a whole. No more subsidies and huge increases in their taxes to clean up their messes are in order.
Did you hear the part where he said " many of these were drilled by Companies that are gone " ???
As a 25 year veteran of the petroleum drilling industry, I completely agree with this. We MUST leave things better than we found them. It’ll be expensive, but it can be done. It’s our responsibility to the next generations ability to move towards more eco-friendly sources of fuel and energy.
Yes it also gives the industry a bad name. I don't like it and we should work to fix it.
Why can’t more people understand that? Why does the right have such a hard time understanding global warming, greenhouse gasses?
Na to expensive, not their problem, they need their corporate jets and lavish vacations, lobbyists, etc.
@@sittinonthegodamcornerdoindope Because a generation has grown up on far right media, which scares people into believing science is part of a conspiracy that is out to get them. The mask paranoia quite amazed me.
@@michelleadams5120 It’s true. It starts with big oil money and works its way down - they have massive marketing efforts to convince people that climate change isn’t happening, Fox News has no issue being the beacon. Companies like Chevron also market themselves as “pursuing a future of clean energy”, but they don’t plan on ceasing fossil fuel extraction anytime soon. Not to mention, they completely ignore and act like we forgot about all the times they went into foreign countries and destroyed the ecosystems and didn’t clean it up
"They've only collected 1% of what they need"??? They should make it mandatory to pay the deposit to cap off defunct wells!
Only 1 percent collected by the government. Wow seems irresponsible. Goverment does seem to suck your right.
It should be part of the permit fee.
How do collect a deposit for a well built in the 30s? It should be a fee not a deposit, they need to collect money from the industry to fix problems left behind by failed companies.
The reason the legislation and government is unable to collect and hold those responsible is due in large part to lobbying by oil companies. There are massive subsidies paid out to explore new oil fields without having anything in place after.
It already is mandatory. That is what the video is saying. A huge number of them were never plugged in the past because small firms went bankrupt and were totally liquidated, with little thought then paid to the abandoned wells.
Just tell new drillers that they have to cap two old wells to be able to drill one well.
That’s what usually happens most oil companies have to abandon and certain amount of wells each year in order to be able to drill new ones. But as of now not many companies are drilling cause of the price of oil. I’m running a steam truck now and we have 50 abandonments this winter to do just for this one service rig, and there’s 2 rigs in this area I’m in
How about put them to fire, no more methane escaping and looks nice. If I'am right, that problem begins by people's who think's "Hey, that's good idea" .. And this "cleverness" shines even outside USA. People's are stupid's and few person of ten are idiots.. Sad but true. Only promille of men's and women's are these who shut down working that kill us slowly and sure. Many these are wery old problems and drilling oil can be much cleaner than what it was and is still many places. Now there hopely growing "generation cleaning world" or "last generation" Thanks. Have a green day.
@@jannejohansson3383 rense.com/general75/zoil.htm In direct conflict with the 'Peak Oil' myth, the under-reamer shown in these photos can restore an oil well's original production rate, using basically the same principle as changing the oil filter in your automobile engine Now we come to the completely false [or deliberately misleading] claim by Peak Oil shills that production from existing oil wells is "slowing down", thereby proving that the oil fields are "running dry". This is so wrong that it is almost breathtaking. Think of this slowing down process in the same way you might think of the engine oil in your automobile. The longer you run the engine, the higher the level of contaminates that get into the oil. The higher the level of contaminates, the higher the level of friction. Sooner or later you have something closely akin to glue coating your piston rings, and the performance of your engine declines accordingly. This is an inevitable mechanical process well known to all automobile owners. Henry Ford and others managed to slow down the rate of contamination in engine oils by inventing the oil filter, through which the oil has to circulate each time it passes around inside the engine. A high percentage of the contaminates stick to the filter element, thereby allowing extra miles between oil changes, though heaven help the careless motorist who thinks he can get away without ever changing his clogged oil filter when recommended. When oil is extracted from a producing formation underground, it flows out through pores in the reservoir rock, and then into the open borehole, from where it is transported to surface by the production tubing string. So by the very nature of the beast, the bottom section of the well is "open hole" which allows the oil to flow out in the first place, but because it is comprised of exposed and sometimes unstable rock, this open hole section is also continually subject to all manner of turbulence and various contaminates. For example, tiny quantities of super fine silt may exit through the pores but not continue to the surface with the oil, tumbling around in the turbulence instead, until the silt very slowly starts to block off the oil-producing pore throats. Yes, of course there are a variety of liners that can be used to slow down the contamination, but there is no such thing as a Henry Ford oil filter 10,000 feet underground. The inevitable result of this is that over time, the initial production rate of the well will slowly decline, a hard fact known to every exploration oilman in the business. However, this is certainly not an indication that the oil field itself is becoming depleted, proved thousands of times by offset wells drilled later into the same reservoir. Any new well comes on stream at the original production rate of its older cousins, because it has not yet had time to build up a thin layer of contaminates across the open hole. Though as we shall see it is possible to "do an oil change" on a producing well and bring it back to full production, this is extremely expensive, and rarely used in the west. Look at a simple example: Say we have a small oil field in Iraq with ten wells that each started out in life producing 10,000 barrels of oil per day. Fine, for a known investment we are producing 100,000 barrels of oil per day from our small field, at least for a while. Five years later contamination may have slowed our overall production down by ten percent to 90,000 barrels per day. So we are now faced with a choice: either "do an oil change" on all ten existing wells at vast expense and down time, or simply drill one additional well into the same reservoir, thereby restoring our daily production to 100,000 barrels with the minimum of fuss. Take my word for it, ninety-nine percent of onshore producers will simply drill the extra well. Naturally, there are times and places where this simple process is not an option, for example on a huge and very expensive offshore platform, which may have only 24 drilling 'slots', all of which have been used up. To restore your overall production after five years you can either build another giant platform next door for two billion dollars, or "do an oil change" on each of your existing 24 wells, one at a time. Clearly this time you are forced to carry out the time consuming business of restoring the open hole section at the bottom of the well to its old pristine condition, before various contaminates started to slow down your production rate. For this task you first pull the production tubing out of the hole, and then run back in with a drill string, to which is attached an underreamer as shown in the pictures above. When the reamer is directly opposite the top of the open hole producing section, the drill string is rotated to the right and the blades fly out under centrifugal force to a distance preset by you before lowering the tool into the hole. The objective is to cut away the contaminated face of the well to a depth you consider will once again expose pristine producing pores. As the spinning underreamer is slowly lowered, it enlarges the size of the hole, with the contaminated debris cut away and flushed back to surface by the drilling fluid. Hey presto, you have a new oil well, and it only cost one or two million dollars to restore Remember, I said this process is rarely used in the west, which is true, but it is not true of Russia, where the objective for many years has been to dominate global oil supply by continual investment. With no shareholders holding out their grubby little hands for a wad of pocket money every month, the Russian oil industry managed to surge ahead, underreaming thousands of its older existing onshore wells in less than ten years. Then along came Wall Street asset Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who fraudulently got his hands on Yukos oil for a mere fraction of its value, and was on the point of selling the entire outfit to the American multinationals when Vladimir Putin had him hauled off his private jet somewhere in Siberia. So Wall Street was finally 'cheated' of its very own 'free' Russian oil, and poor old Mikhail had better get used to the taste of prison food.
@@darthvader5300 oil is a limited ressource what are you smoking
@@Lrripper LOL! I was in Vietnam when I am observing the White Tiger Oil Fields which you Americans say there is no oil! And yet there is oil! LOL! Buy a 2-way ticket to Vietnam and visit the White Tiger Oil Fields! LOL!
From someone who used to work in the field, here's how we ended up with these wells. Yes, there is a mandatory deposit of money to plug the well when it is done. But that was often made decades ago, and now doesn't nearly cover what the costs are today. Plus, the well has changed hands many times since then. To resolve themselves of any responsibility, oil companies will sell an oil field with, say, 90 dead wells ("suspended") and 5 good ones to a different company that will run the last 5 into the ground and then go bankrupt (whoops?). In the end, nobody is left to pay for the enormous cleanup, except the tax payer. Worse, the cost are now way higher than they would've been if they had cleaned up decades ago like they should, because access roads no longer exist, leaks have happened etc. Why are wells allowed to be "suspended" like that for so long? They aren't, but it's easy to get around, mostly a paperwork exercise. Why isn't a higher deposit for cleanup required? These are some good questions to ask your local politician, who probably financed their campaign with donations from the industry.
I work on a plugging and abandonment team in California. I can assure you that over 99% of the wells we deal with are not venting to the atmosphere. Those wells should be prioritized and dealt with immediately when found.
That is in California bro. THere were some regs in place to make arrangements to keep old wells from venting. In the rest of the country where there are no regs, it is a mess.
@Stevie Dee The guy's name is Russel not Bro. Get off your mom's couch and grow up.
@@mikebyrne9739 triggered much bro? 😂
Cali is way different than Texas. Texas doesn't care about anyone!
Concrete
He forgot to mention that the EPA also doesn’t require them to be plugged or removed after they’ve been decommissioned.
E'veryone P'resumes A'ccountably - LOL -
And who's running the EPA? Yeah, they've got lots of money and lobbyists and fund a lot of political campaigns.
Sickness is the biggest industry why would the epa care , contaminate , destroy , sicken big pharma likes and
The EPA isn't likely to do anything that would take away the flow of dollars into their coffers.
@@eugenemorrill7009 big buisiness gets away with murder ,
Don't forget the 750,000 unplugged wells in Texas... That is an insane figure 😂
Na they have a "board" for that 🤣🤣🤣
Texas , that alone says it all
those abandoned wells releasing more emissions than the world's poorest billion people. Sad
Thats how texas does buisness maximu profit...spend as little as possible ...cut every corner...pay of officials in the city...then off the the next one
You should do a story on the thousands of abandoned Well heads lost out in the swamps in Northern Alberta and BC. It's pretty bad out there.
Love how the Farmer acknowledges that the oil company didn’t “clean up after themselves” but considers them not responsible lol
Typical white rural mindset. It can't be the private sector fault, it's the damn government and those green energy libs!
Quite often these companies go bankrupt with wells still producing and then once they near the end of the wells life the government doesn’t bother cleaning them up and or they let them fall into disrepair
He says it's the fault of the regulators for not placing the responsibility on the oil drillers
Except he never said that, he said he don't blame the oil indursty not the company, but is surprised the companies don't have to clean up after themself.
you realized him allowing them to drill there in the first place paid him $$$ royalty fees? put a well in my backyard if you want.
I like how the farmer casually has a can of Busch latte mid day.
Hey there young feller, that's a in between whiskey snack.
you must not know many farmers
You betcha
I work on a cranberry marsh and we drink on the job always.
I put beer on my cereal broski
'Well done' is a fitting name
So is 'Cavalier.'
@@fluuufffffy1514 good job you get a 🍪
or "shut your hole"
I agree
Or "Put a lid on it."
"If people think we're ever going to be running this machinery on batteries, they're dreaming" Brother, your farm is made of dreams. It wasn't that long ago that farming was done by hand. Progress happens.
Big EV fan and I have serious doubt about operating farm equipment on batteries. Some of those machines are used few weeks in the year (so most of the year the batteries wouldn't be used) and would need 100+kWh per hour (so u need giant batteries or switch batteries + super charger infrastructure in the middle of nowhere). That sounds like a very bad combination. Biofuels or hydrogen sound like the more likely option.
A little late to this but look up "robot farming". They're already in production and solar powered. I believe that's the way we're headed.
@@TBFSJjunior Battery tech is on a hyper-fast development curve. We're seeing significant improvements from year to year. I like swapable battery systems, where the batteries are multi use; they can be used for various machines, and be used as power backup for home and business. I think we are less than 10 years for electrically powered farm tech to be viable. Not a fan of hydrogen fuel cells... end to end efficiency is incredibly low.
@@theobserver9131 if the alternative is not using the electricity then efficiency doesn't really matter much (#duckcurve), so we will have to produce TWh of hydrogen anyhow for seasonal storage (our rooftop solar gets around 70kWh in the summer and 5 in a bad winter day). You are right though that swappable batteries would be a must for some farm equipment and that battery tech is improving significantly year on year. For cars the discussion will be over by 2030, but some farm equipment, planes and ships are still a big ? for me.
@@TBFSJjunior I wasn't thinking just solar... I was thinkiing still on the grid. Grid electricity is much cleaner than ICE power.Eventually, grid source energy will get cleaner and greener.
He used to run the companies. He acts like he didn't know what happens when they're done pumping oil.
A quick look at his background on linkedin shows that he never ran any operating companies. He was providing services to operating companies and doing was they were asking him and paying him to do. Cannot blame him for the situation he is describing.
This is a HUGE STORY thats nuts how much emissions are being seen here, ty Vice
One person shows video of the abandoned wells and interviews lots of real people on camera. Some other random person on the Internet just says it is a lie with no proof. How did we ever get to this point?
"Mental Environmentalists" have been callin this bs out for over a decade, having the media to paint them as pathetically as they wished, and now we're thanking VICE for a video that we will forget about later?
Like my comment above. Its very rare to have a well venting to atmosphere. I work on the plugging/abandonment side of this industry as an engineer.
@@russelcurtis1647 wouldn't venting cause land sinkage?
@@wallace_4520 not really, I've work in the oil industry for 14 years I have never seen a suspended / orphaned well left venting to atmosphere in that time.
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” ― Plato
@Rowan Melton cant afford to*
@Rowan Melton I interpreted it as the blue collar worker with barely enough money for rent this week. It’s crazy how a few words can change the entirety of your sentence’s meaning
Flagged as spam. Stop spamming the comments section in your lame attempt for subs.
@@BangBangBang. wut are you talking about?
sexy
I would do this. Looks much more exciting than my office job where I'm staring at emails and databases all day long.
As a student studying petroleum engineering, I can tell you that this stuff is super exciting. If you’re bored of your office job maybe try to be a labor worker on a onshore/offshore rig. Get paid fat and work around awesome engineering all dah
You can also be part of the process passively by investing in oil and other commodities 🤷🏻♀️
This mans a genius. Makes millions ravaging the environment then makes more money fixing the problem he created.
yeah it dont cost a million dolllars to plug a well
I wouldn’t consider him a genius. Maybe a monopolizing scumbag
@@thegraffitiwriterknowsas6821 Are any of you virtue signaling crybabies willing to five upbyour lifestyle to save the environment? Obviously not, seeing as how you're on the internet which was built using fossil fuels, on a phone built with fossil fuels. In fact, your entire existence is only possible because of fossil fuels. When people like you start living off the land without modern convenience, I'll believe you're serious.
@@boomerisadog3899 your Ignorance is insane. There’s no point in even trying to have a logical conversation with you
If not him, some other old man in charge would have got the job done. Atleast he's trying to do some good after the fact.
Logging companies replant trees after cutting them so it shouldn't be hard for oil companies to do this.
Dare you to actually look into that and see how well the plan is going.
@@SeanRyno in canada the logging companies definitely replant, especially because they'll log the land again so not only are they legally obligated but it's worth it for them. I would think at least they would replant in the states to cut the trees again
@@Cwinch95 look into it. Those trees they plant rarely make it. And it'll be another 20 years or so before the first ones planted are harvestable.
You know how many years it takes a full tree to grow lol you can’t be from the USA or the rain forest
@@joesantana6429 at least 40 years for the trees around me.
So much for always leaving places better than the way you found them. 😔
its america, we dont do that >.
@@lunaluna6474 Some of us do 😉
@@satorimystic thankfully 🥺
You got that from Baden-Powell?
@@schadowizationproductions6205 Unsure of its origin, I instantly recognized its wisdom ... and I try to keep it in practice. 😉
I love showing people like this. I've worked in oil and gas for 8 years now and there are many people like him. I had the privilege to work for a company that made us takes weeks of eco courses so we understood the risks involved in what we did and to make sure we left the land as clean and safe as when we arrived. Not everyone in the industry is a Rockefeller, it's not a perfect industry but it was by far the safest I've ever worked in.
" i want to make sure there is a winter " .... realest statement
that carbon fiber hard hat low key cool af...
😎
They're just made of plastic textured like that.
@@nicktorr7888 I've seen actual carbon fiber hats at work. Some contractors use them and they're light as a feather.
Lift safety carbon hard hats. I run one best hard hat I've usef
It’s probably just a hydrodipped graphic
A clear case of individualize the profits and socialize the losses.
These people are leeches
Amens!
Socialism is immoral. It's literally the legalized leeching off of the productive class.
@@stanleynickarz way to let everyone know that you don't understand what capitalism is. If it's not voluntary, then it's not capitalism. Socialism is literally having the productive class produce wealth, and then have thugs with guns steal it, and redistribute it to the unproductive class. Taxation is theft. Socialism is immoral.
@@stanleynickarz there's nothing legal about capitalism. Capitalism exists in the absence of a state.
Im a retired oil field guy where can I sign up? I know hundreds of abandoned wells.
I'm sure if you reach out to the Well Done Foundation, they'll get you onboard
Big Business goes in and takes the Profits and leaves the mess over and over and over. Make them accountable. Clean up your own messes.
I can respect this guy and he seems really nice as well.
🙄
Is that a low key pun you made in your comment? Nice as well
@@joshbryant4629 happy someone spotted it hahahahahaha
@@OMG3DBEAT dammit 😭
Another case of: Boomer feels bad for destroying environment for decades.. tries to make amends in late life. Irreversable damage already done.
Privatize the profits, socialise the losses... seems about right
“Is it the oil industries fault?” Farmer - “No” Oil Industry- “great thank you very much Farmer Bill the check is in the mail and we are out of here. Good luck”
If an oil company files for bankruptcy then it's impossible for it to cap the wells. It has no money in its accounts, how is it going to pay the contractor. The state needs regulations that demand these companies leave a capping deposit for each well.
Battery operated tractors would actually have even more torque then diesel. Don't get me wrong I love diesel, mostly because of it's torque and range.
True. It will happen whether he thinks it's a good idea or not.
A lot of farmers on Kt. Solothurn CH have turned the roofs of their pig stables into solar cell farms. I guess they will not get a high price for the current they feed into the "public" net, but a false incentive is that farmers get diesel at lower prices, and use it with diesel tractors running with 50 to 70km/h on streets for 80 km/h, jamming normal traffic and competing against traditional transportation corps, which even further to "normal" priced street diesel have to pay heavy cargo street fees! So remove special cheap diesel for farmers, and I bet they rush to get electric tractors/ lorries, as their already e-power producers!
"Maybe I don't want to be the bad guy anymore."
Just bc you are bad guy doesn't mean you are BAD guy 😁
"after i've made more fortune and retired"
@@KingSlimjeezy this dude was regular oil worker he isnt making 200 dollars an hour...
Hopefully he continues doing this.
Him and an entire army
He is old, he need to get a apprenticeship started for our future generations. I'll be a apprentice. HIRE ME!!!!
@@mrpowpow4454 sign me up and give me a T-shirt. I’m in.
We’re do I sign up to do this ?
Hopefully they will make it law for oil companies to clean up themselves.
This Lady get it. She grew up in the middle of that "Party" that her grandparents started and now she sees that we have to clean up after them.
I must've screamed "Escrow" at the computer screen 6 thousand times...
The company mysteriously "goes away" when it's time to clean up.
They contract and subcontract out a lot of the work. Easier to fold a bunch relatively unknown and small operations versus a company like Exxon.
Kinda like my kids in the kitchen 🤔
@@flipnotrab hahaha
@@flipnotrab Same problem enforcement.
No, it's not mysterious. It's called bankruptcy and it's very difficult to avoid in the oil and gas industry.
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” ― Mahatma Gandhi
I flagged your KZhead account and put down you spam other KZhead videos with your lame quotes. I hope it was worth it.
Thanks. I think it’s worth it.
lol not with 8 billion people.
well done with acepting the responsability and doing something about it, wish more ppl in that field learn both side of production....
I actually work in abandonments here in California..All oil producers operating in the state are required to participate in an idle well management plan. It helps mitigate potential issues and keeps a balance of wells completed/wells abandoned.
In NY state a bond is required up front to be purchased to pay for capping landfills.
Same as all mining in Australia. Rehabilitation costs are paid upfront for end of mine life
I tried to explain to my brother how a thermal imaging camera shows plumes of methane on a bright sunny clear day. He still thinks I'm lil sunburnt.
how does it?
@Jessica Hicking ya, but the methane gas is of the same temperature of the air, right ?
@Jessica Hicking these is no volcano below ground
As a computer engineer that works on robotic farm equipment I can tell you that battery operated tractors already exist and in 10ish years all new tractors will be battery operated and likely most fully autonomous.
When done properly, Natural Gas is very clean. Fix pipelines, plug wells and limit methane emissions.
Capitalism on the profit, but socialism on the loss.
100% agreed
This is essentially a video about a niche government subsidy for the Oil & Gas industry. Even if the government isn't playing a huge role in it now, it will have to eventually because it is the only way that an environmental impact such as this can be remedied in a sufficient amount of time. State and federal governments should impose a "capping" tax on Oil & gas so that they can pay for this.
Socialism always looses. Goes around comes around
@@madgolfer17 and who pays for the gov?
A balance between the two is the way forward
So he’s a classic businessman then. He’s made the problem now selling the solution... GENIUS!!
People like this give me hope!
I came from Toronto, Ohio. Back in the 1930's they had gas and oil well throughout the area. 1978 I was newly married in lived in a small old house at the South end of town. There was an area across the street that follow the main street in town. It was only about 20-30 wide then dropped off and down about 75 feet to the railroad and then another 25 feet to the Ohio river. This area was about 1/2 mile long and a couple of hundred feet wide. There was a tree line that ran along an old fence line about 10 feet from the street. Just a row of single trees. Every so often I would get a smell of gas. My Grandfather actually put a large number of the wells in and my Dad worked in the field too. So my Dad was around one day when the smell was in the air. He said it was natural gas, it was casehead gas from a well. We were leaving, so it didn't go any further that day. A few weeks later, I was waiting for my wife to go out and sat down on the front steps. There were 3 boys on bike messing around across the street. I wasn't paying much attention to them. All at once there was a huge roar and a flame went up in the air about 40 feet, burning 2 of the trees closest. I called the fire department. The got the fire out. So went over and checked things out. The gas was roaring out of the 8" cashead. Since it was under high pressure and decompressing it was freezing cold. The fire department said they would have it plugged. That summer they began a real estate and started filling the drop off. Eventually they fille almost to the railroad tracks (200 feet and 75 feet deep). They built several building on that fill including apartments and a car dealership. I was talking to my Dad sometime later and reminded him about the old well. He told me the fill covered at least 30 more wells. Someday, there may be a huge explosion of accumulated gas that will blow away the whole area.
It is better to start small then not do anything at all. GOOD JOB Curtis. Way to get stuff done!
Those farmers weren't complaining when they were collecting the profits, though.
@Jason Tempel no they really weren't they were doing the boogey
E&P companies only profit. Farmers have "profits" because they complained. And if they didnt take the second offer, their land would be deemed imminent domain and they'd receive a fraction of what its worth. They could negotiate a royalty payment probably every quarter of the year, but since oil prices are dwindling, those payments wont be much. Theres an initial 1-time lease payment which oil companies would have to pay, and maybe a use and damage payment, which I'm sure the farmers reluctantly took. When it comes down to it, it's not worth it in the long run.
4:00 the question key...🤔
They complain when the money runs dry
They were already collecting agricultural subsidies so i doubt they care.
I think abandoned oil wells are Kina scenic if there are couple rusty tanks and a pump Jack. Makes you think of all the work that happened there, the drilling rig and crew many years ago.
Thank you so much for bringing attention to this issue! I wonder why more scrap metal recyclers are not on top of this issue, all that metal is worth money and if they can also be paid by the state to pour concrete down and cap the wells, then a whole new line of business can be started! All that metal can be recycled into say rebar and such to build wind turbines, hydro dams and solar array stands!
Exactly what my family does in Oklahoma. Need a well plugged on your land that's not producing? Contact your local well authority and tell them. The well operator will have a limited amount of time to "plug" them before they start getting fined.
I want a job capping wells... Where can I start I could Be apart of the solution with the right training
I'm with you he can we start this new career!?
Man I would love that
Triple A well service in midland Tx is always hiring and it is not fun
@@bg5561742 tell us more
You'd need to have experience in the oil field industry already. That or a relevant degree to the projects like welding, oil tech, petroleum engineer etc...
Shocking info on the wells, worse than I thought. We are lucky for this man.
We plugged almost 300 in 4 months in north dakota last year
Orphaned wells⁉️ It’s an absolutely disrespectful disregard for the planet and humanity, causing more pain than profit. How’d this executive never see or know about this until retirement? Smh
Short term profit to individuals and long term pain to the planet. It's very bad in Texas, they barely touched upon it in this video.
the office is a long way from the field, he only realized the problem when he went there himself.
Maybe he worked at sea on an oil platform? Maybe he only drilled them but never saw how they were left after service.
Rick James yeah so very bad in Texas. That’s why people are flocking to the state by the thousands
It probably was more profitable than painful to leave those wells uncapped or poorly capped and that is why they were left that way. Anyhow, in the video it mentions how companies went bankrupt and were already liquidated so...
Question: With all this methane coming out of those wells, why not use it for something?!?
Super duper disclaimer of non concrete knowledge here. But, if I am not mistaken methane burns even less clean than oil, with less efficiency. So harvesting the Methane coming from each well would take more infrastructure to harvest and use, for less bang for your buck, while adding to the problem of green house gases, rather than helping prevent them. Also methane is waaaay more dangerous to transport than oil or other some other gases like propane.
sexy question
There's enough natural gas coming off of there to be a rather significant environmental problem, there is not enough to build an industry around it.
@@somedude1771 yep you are wrong, methane is cleaner than oil. they are not harvesting it there because it is not economical.
@@Ubya_ indeed, wrong on the clean part, right on the economy part atleast :)
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace...
1:06 I thought it is Pulse HEARTS BEATING Sensor
It’s called a pulling unit. This is called plugging or cementing the well bore past the water table.
All wells are past the water table. That's why they isolate the well bore with cement and pipe and then perforate the zone. It's called service rig, been on lots.
Our rules require a bottom cement plug of 200' then fill the hole with typically drilling mud to 206' from surface then a top cement plug of 196' from surface. Cut and cap the casing 4' under the surface and reclaim the area.
Big oil has been nothing but big problems. Tax the hell out of them and fine them heavily.
That rund contrary to the idea of free markets
Exactly, the government should make bank to push innovation in a greener direction.
I understand what you're saying but can you tell me who will suffer more from those tax
Everything will get more expensive if that happens
I guess making the green alternatives become more competitive is necessary prior taxing the hell out of the oil and gas companies
I had no idea there was a problem to that extent, but it makes sense. You see the same issue with abandoned mines, dump sites, old factories...
In the mining industry, when the ore runs out the multinationals sell the mine to a small company (usually a numbered corporation), that mines what’s left then declares bankruptcy. Thus the multinational is not on the hook for the clean up costs when the mine closes. All perfectly legal of course.
How about making Big Oil cover these wells?
Because these are left behind by older companies that went under
Jesus will do it
It's cheaper for big oil to donate to and lobby politicians for friendly legislation then to clean up this sort of mess
@@danielstapler4315 yeah, its easier to pay somebody with a high place in politics to say climate change a hoax, and claim that eólic Energy causes more toxic fumes and kills more birds than anything else...
Because some are old wells before regulations and some very likely were drilled by "Little Oil" and would you be ok to be on the hook to clean up your neighbor's yard after they skipped town and left a mess?
"cavalier petroleum" is such a beautifully ironic name.
In alberta the well is cemented off at the producing zone then dug down 6feet and the well is capped
More power to this guy. Much more power.
"at first glance it may seem they are drilling for oil..." with a freestanding carrot puller. lol
Wasn't aware of this issue till now! Thanks for educating me!
Now this seems very logical for both sides to get on board with this. I hope we can get both sides together on this issue cuz it's very simple we need to cap these Wells
God bless this guy
He should sell the service as carbonoffset for companies to save on carbon credits.
Smart.
They are orphaned wells the companies went under
@@Geo.StoryMaps no big corporations like Disney buy carbon offsets and this guy could fund the operation by selling carbon offsets
Those arent currupt at all. Thats like paying someone to be a pastor so you can murder people. Paying for a right to commit a wrong is still wrong
@@dl1277 Honestly, as an entrepreneur who’s been looking into offsetting, more than most of its coverage is for shipping emissions due to shipping companies being incompetent in pursuit of EV adoption.
Tax gas and oil now to pay for all of this plus the health costs and any other costs that can be directly linked to the product.
So old school American "Grab the money and go .." This is definitely an industry fix, thank you vice for bringing this to public attention.
I worked on the rigs plugging oil wells for two years hard work. Plugging wells is very expensive but When we’ll is empty or not producing enough we plug it we also clean up our work location throughly our company man was great guy if you get good crew guys take week to plug well or 5 days when you think of plugging well it’s a lot different then just putting a cap on it cement is put in at different depths it’s quite the task to do dangerous on really old wells have high potiental h2s
Before any new well is allowed to be drilled, they should be required to cap 10 old wells for each new one they want to drill.
Maybe the equivalent of EV credits, so you could create a market for Oil well capped credits
And the price of gas goes where might I ask? Well back to the Obama years I say
it's so outrageous that even as the farmer’s land is being destroyed, as he is witnessing the predatory behaviour of oil and gas, he still doesn't blame the oil and gas industry
i mean man whats an alternative to the oil and gas industry for people out there in rural areas? They depend on those jobs & their production to make a living. Wish there could be a good alternative that the big gas & oil industry could get behind and slowly take steps towards a cleaner and better world but right note there just isnt a cheaper alternative
@Leroy Jones Yes indeed so.
If you got 25% of what the well produced your outlook would be different too.
Especially because he got rich of the well on his land but doesn't fixes it and ruins the environment for everyone
Why would he blame the company he probably has a couple more wells on his property and is making bank off of it good for him also his land isn’t destroyed
Vice somehow knows what topics I like and they present it so well, pun intended.
theres a ton of them in michigan as well. and the company is still thriving and well profiting. semco
looks like someone's feeling a bit guilty after their career in oil.
Na. Probably just trying to serve his community
He's helping the environment more then 90% of the people who claim to be environmentalists. If ya watched the video he addresses this exact statement at the end
@@Guttabee he is an environmentalist. He has an environmental non profit. Stop reducing everything to your absurd stereotypes. Of course he knows he profited from an industry that ravaged the environment. That’s why he’s doing this and not trying to fix something else.
And he’s trying to help now
Do you feel guilty for consuming petroleum products?
An oil exec with a conscience. What a rare specimen It is amazing just how forgiving these farmers are despite the damage oil drilling is doing to the land. And yes, it is possible to power heavy equipment with green tech. Batteries, hydrogen fuel cell tech among others is advancing quickly. Renewables energy is already becoming cheaper to produce then fossil fuel sources which is something oil companies of course know and are consequently heavily members of Congress to oppose all the while being heavily subsidized by the tax payer
thx for that video i didnt know about uncaped wells :)
At 3:34 I respect that man... Got his tractor and a beer (mountain water) in his hand 😁👌🏽🍺
"If people think we're ever going be driving battery operated tractors, they're dreaming" Isn't torque hella important for tractors? And don't electric motors make more torque than diesel engines? In any case that's ain't going to age too well
Also, there’s already a California company making viable battery EV tractors that have a minimal fraction of the operating costs. Cents to run an electric tractor for every $10 of a diesel. And with how agriculture is one of the most heavily subsidized, and heavily polluting activities we have, for both economics and ecological factors it’s likely soon going to be a legal requirement to switch over when it’s capable.
@@cameronf3343 I doubt that thing will work well in Northern Montana where it can get to -40 with wind chill. Batteries don't do well with the cold. Not to mention having to run 480V to all the barns to charge the things.
@@cameronf3343 but how long will the tractor run for? During busy times I might need the tractor to work 18 hours in a day. Will it charge for 8 hours in the time it takes me to eat some food or will I need two electric tractors for every one diesel tractor. Making electric tractors is not much more enviromently friendly than making diesel tractors. Where will the electricity come from to power the tractors Nuclear? If they were really serious about electric vehicles they would be able to charge themselves.
I like how that state official was like it's not our problem to deal with and progress takes time when you choose to ignore it like we proudly do.
It takes one person to start a trend. Good for them. Show up and be the change you want to see.
Hats off to him and his team.
Theres no money in that.
That's uhhhh why it's a non-profit
@@peterlegrand157 youre missing their point
There is billions and billions of dollars just under the ground in fossil fuel and natural gas The only The only way the Oldfield can die if everybody on this Earth do their 100% commitment into recycling, renewable energy, and clean energy commitment.
That's like saying there's no money in clean air and water. It's priceless is what it is.
@@Native_Creation Yes but our greedy corrupt system doesn't see it that way.
We need more people like him to change the world for the better
People like him ruin the world and only feel "bad" after they are old and rich. Don't be fooled.
This is what's called an "externality"; a cost caused by a producer that is not financially incurred or received by that producer.
That's not an oil derrick, that's a workover rig. It's much more light duty and is designed to just remove and install equipment in existing holes.
sounds like something the government should be doing
****sounds like something the government should be forcing companies to do
Yeah so companies make all the money and have your peoples taxes go into cleaning someone else mess. That’s BS
No, the government should not be doing this.
Nah the companies who used them should be responsible, if they don’t exist anymore, than yea the government should probably step in
@@MrLOLSager anytime you request government to do something, you are essentially saying "I think people should be robbed, in order to accomplish x(in this case, plugging abandoned holes)". Government is not a solution.
Why is there a dislike on a non-profit doing a good thing?
@auburn024 1 that’s very true it’s not even what the subject matter is at some point.
Some people just cant accept that sometimes, the left are sending the right message, and vice versa. Those who are too invested in the left/right game have very narrow view of the bigger picture.
Free speech
100 dislikes on 200k views is probably just people accidentally pressing it on a touch screen.
There is no such thing as a non-profit that works for free.
Nice I worked derricks in MT for a work over before going to the drilling side. 2 weeks on 2 weeks off 👌
Idk I use to do this. We were able to cap 10k wells in a week if everything goes smooth and that's cutting and laying down the casing the cowboy way
Ill do it where do i sign up?
Thank you , VICE, for this story.
I would be interested to know the range of costs per ton of methane escape prevented over time for this kind of project.
“If people think we’re ever gunna be running battery operated tractors their dreaming” well that won’t age well.
I did not hear that. Where in the video was this? Very true though. It’s like saying people will buy gas-powered cars even in 2040.