ÃÛÌÒAPP

Considering a Federal Program to Permanently Plug and Abandon Offshore Oil and Gas Wells

Columbia | School of International and Public Affairs
Center on Global Energy Policy

Mark Agerton, University of California-Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics and nonresident scholar at the Center for Energy Studies housed at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy

Siddhartha Narra, Research Associate, ÃÛÌÒAPP Center for Energy Studies

Brian Snyder, Associate Professor, ÃÛÌÒAPP Department of Environmental Sciences

Gregory B. Upton, Jr., (corresponding author), Associate Professor - Research, ÃÛÌÒAPP Center for Energy Studies

Part of an oil and gas research initiative at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, this report examines offshore plugging and abandoning (P&A) liabilities. The research is meant to provide guidance to federal policy makers during the formulation of P&A programs. Objectives include 1) reducing taxpayers’ future financial P&A liability for orphan wells, 2) reducing environmental risk, and 3) preserving or increasing employment alongside goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally.

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