The plans seek to meet new state financial requirements, but some smaller operators are hoping to put up only a fraction of the needed funds.
oil well cleanup
Posted inBusiness
K.P. Kauffman asks for more time to clean up troubled oil and gas wells. Colorado regulators are out of patience.
KPK says it will be in better financial condition if it sells northeastern Colorado wells to a company proposing to use them for a carbon capture project.
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News
Colorado gives oil and gas company 6 more months to clean up its act. If not, KP Kauffman faces nearly $1 million in fines — or worse.
Frustrated, but patient, state oil and gas regulators on Monday gave the troubled KP Kauffman Co. one more, six-month chance to clean up its act or face close to $1 million in fines — or worse. The Denver-based oil and gas operator, which runs 1,200 low-producing wells around the state, is under an agreement to […]
Posted inNews
Colorado regulators overhaul rules to ensure there’s money to clean up orphan wells
Colorado oil and gas regulators Tuesday adopted complex financial assurance rules aimed at guaranteeing there is enough money to properly plug all the wells in the state — especially the ones that are low-producing or left orphaned by defunct drillers. The rules come after months of hearings that pitted environmental and community groups that wanted […]
Posted inNews
When Colorado oil and gas wells are sold to small companies, can the new owners afford the cleanup costs?
While a bunch of aging Rio Blanco County wells haven’t moved a whit, or produced much oil and gas, their corporate address has jumped in the last six years from Kansas to Texas to Highlands Ranch. Owner 1: Koch Exploration was located on the sprawling Wichita, Kansas, campus of Koch Industries, the privately-held conglomerate with […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado is letting oil drillers off the hook for cleanup of their plugged wells
According to the International Monetary Fund, fossil fuel companies were subsidized globally to the tune of $5.9 trillion in 2020. That’s $11 million a minute! One way in which the oil and gas industry is subsidized in the U.S. is by being allowed to keep hundreds of thousands of low-producing wells open on their books […]