Texas will plug 800 abandoned oil and gas wells, funded by $25 million federal infrastructure grant

Brackish water flows from an unplugged abandoned well outside Imperial in Pecos County — one of several in the area likely drilled for oil but later tapped for water. On Friday, the Texas Railroad Commission announced it would use federal money to begin plugging about 800 orphan wells. (Credit: Rafael Aguilera for The Texas Tribune)

Texas will begin plugging about 800 abandoned oil and gas wells this fall, the state’s oil and gas agency said, after receiving an initial $25 million grant from a program included in President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan.

It’s a fraction of the approximately 7,400 documented abandoned oil and gas wells that need to be plugged in the state — and industry observers believe the figure to be an undercount. Several more millions of dollars are expected to be disbursed to Texas through the newly created federal program.