One abandoned New Mexico oil well cost $5M to plug. The state just sealed 114
New Mexico plugged a record 114 orphan oil and gas wells in fiscal year 2026, including costly cleanup work aimed at reducing pollution and protecting groundwater.
New Mexico set a record for orphan-well cleanup as officials warned that abandoned sites can leak methane, contaminate soil and threaten groundwater
Organ Mountain News report
SANTA FE - One abandoned New Mexico oil well ultimately cost $5 million to plug. Now, the state says it has sealed a record 114 orphan wells in a single year.
The New Mexico Oil Conservation Division announced that it plugged 114 abandoned oil and gas wells during fiscal year 2026, surpassing the previous record of 104 wells set in fiscal year 2024.
Orphan wells are no longer producing and do not have an owner capable of properly retiring them. If left unplugged, they can leak toxic chemicals into groundwater, contaminate soil and release methane and other pollutants, according to the division.
The average cost to plug a well is now about $236,000. But the division said one particularly difficult well, which went out of service in 2012, required $5 million in total plugging costs.
“This milestone reflects New Mexico’s ongoing commitment to protecting public health and safety by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and safeguarding groundwater,” acting Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Erin Taylor said.
New Mexico has plugged 429 orphan wells statewide since 2021, when the cleanup program received an influx of federal funding. The state has received $109 million in federal grants for the work and has combined that money with tax revenue collected from oil and gas companies.
The division said its cleanup work since the start of fiscal year 2023 has stopped more than 59,000 grams of methane from entering the atmosphere each hour.
On an annual basis, officials said that equals more than 517,000 kilograms of methane, or 14,481 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent — roughly the same as eliminating nearly 37 million miles of passenger-vehicle travel each year.
The state has also spent $14.7 million over the past five years to remediate and reclaim sites affected by orphan wells and related equipment.
That work removed more than 275,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and restored nearly 506,000 square feet of land, according to the division.
The agency said it plans to continue plugging wells using state funding and an additional $57 million in federal grants for which it remains eligible.
A recently enacted state law, House Bill 80, also directs more state tax revenue toward orphan-well cleanup.
“Every well we plug is a direct investment in New Mexico’s future,” Oil Conservation Division Director Albert Chang said. “This year’s results show what’s possible when we combine technical expertise, effective planning and a commitment to serving the people of our state.”
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