Louisiana
Oil and gas well records
Oil and gas wells in Louisiana are permitted by the Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy (C&E). C&E says it was known as the Department of Energy and Natural Resources (DENR) until October 1, 2025, when it was renamed under Act 458 of the 2025 Regular Session. Its Office of Permitting and Compliance issues permits, monitors compliance and sees to the safe operation of pipelines and wells, and its Office of Enforcement holds the district inspectors and issues compliance orders. C&E's home page describes SONRIS as its route to database access, document imaging and GIS imaging.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name well records among its standard record sources. The general reading of a well at or near a property is on Oil or gas well on or near the subject property. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality's records are set out on the Louisiana overview; a well's permit and reports are filed with C&E, on the forms below.
- The forms show what a well file can hold. The Office of Permitting and Compliance's forms page lists, for upstream oil and gas, the Application for Permit to Drill for Minerals (MD-10-R-1) and its amendment, the Work Permit (DM-4R), the Well Completion or Recompletion Report (COMP), the Well History and Work Resume Report (WH-1) with a supplement for hydraulic fracturing, the Inactive Well Report (WR-1), the Plug and Abandon Report (P&A), and a Site Clearance Verification Application and Report (SC-APP and SC-VER). For a plugged well, ask for the Plug and Abandon Report and any site clearance verification.
- Pits and waste leave papers of their own. The same page lists a Reserve Pit Oilfield Waste Disposition form (ENG-16), an E&P Waste Containment Structure Notification (ENG-15), an E&P Waste Unauthorized Discharge/Disposal Notification (ENG-15C), and a Landowner Affidavit of No Objection for Passive Pit Closure. On a former well site, ask whether any of these were filed.
- SONRIS was redone in October 2025. C&E's SONRIS Guides page says the data portal was revamped to meet federal accessibility standards, and warns that its older workshop guides may not match the interface after the October 2025 change.
- Orphaned wells have a program of their own. Wells and production facilities with no viable responsible party, or whose party has not kept them up under state rules, are the work of the Oilfield Site Restoration (OSR) Program.
Where to look a site up
- C&E's home page links SONRIS, and its SONRIS Guides page links the SONRIS Data Portal. This handbook did not open either.
- The SONRIS Guides page links PDF tutorials on finding wells by well serial number, by organization name, by permit date, and by section, township and range, on the well profile, and on filtering, sorting and exporting data, with an Oil and Gas Research Guide. This handbook did not open them. SONRIS questions go to 225-342-0510 or info@la.gov.
- The Office of Permitting and Compliance is at 225-342-7591. The Contact Us page lists Office of Enforcement district offices in Lafayette, (337) 262-5777; Monroe, (318) 362-3111; and Shreveport, (318) 676-7585 or (318) 676-7587.
Getting the file
C&E's Contact Us page sends public records requests to the Legal Services Division, Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy, P.O. Box 94396, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9396, or by email to DCE.PublicRecords@LA.GOV. Give the well serial number and the operator if SONRIS shows them, and ask for every document filed for the well. The page gives no reply time or fee. What Louisiana's public records law says about who may ask, timing and fees is on the Public Records Requests page.
Sources
Louisiana Department of Conservation and Energy pages, read October 17, 2026, no modified date shown: