Texas
Orphan wells and State Managed Well Plugging
Operators plug most Texas wells when production ends. For abandoned wells, the Railroad Commission of Texas runs its own plugging program, State Managed Well Plugging, which it dates to 1984 and says the industry pays for. The Commission also lists orphan wells each month: inactive wells whose operators are more than a year late with their Organization Report (Form P-5).
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 does not name orphan or abandoned well lists 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. These Texas lists say whether a well's operator is more than a year late with its Organization Report, and whether the well is still waiting to be plugged with state money.
- Two definitions, from two pages. The Commission's orphan well page lists a well that is inactive and out of compliance, has been inactive for at least 12 months, and whose operator's Organization Report (Form P-5) is more than 12 months past due. Its page on repaying surface owners gives the statute's definition: a permitted well with no production or other Commission-regulated activity reported for the past 12 months, whose operator's P-5 is no longer current.
- Wells can leave the list unplugged. The orphan well page says an operator that wants to take one over needs an active Form P-5 and, when the Commission asks, must show a good faith claim to operate it. A well missing from the current month's list may have been taken over rather than plugged, so read the well's own record too.
- The state's remaining wells are listed. The program page links a list of wells still to be plugged with state money. It can take in wells whose plugging may be under way and wells that may be in a contract that is awarded, awaiting a bid award or awaiting bidding. The page sends questions about a listed well to the district office.
- A surface owner can plug a well and be repaid in part. House Bill 2161 of the 79th Legislature (2005) added Section 89.048, effective January 1, 2006, under which the Commission may pay a surface owner who hires a well cementer approved by the Commission to plug an orphaned well located on the owner's land. The cementer takes responsibility for the well on Form P-4 and plugs it to the Commission's rules, and the owner then applies on Form OW-3. The page says the Commission pays from the Oil and Gas Regulation and Cleanup Fund no more than half of the lower of the documented cost and its own average cost, over the past 24 months, for plugging a comparable well in that general area. Ask whether a Form OW-3 was filed for a well on the property.
- Federal grants plug more wells. The Commission is using federal money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, overseen through its State Managed Plugging program, to plug orphaned wells on state and private land and to clean up and restore their sites. It says the $25,000,000 initial grant received in August 2022, with salvage revenue, plugged 737 wells, and it posts spreadsheets of the wells plugged under the initial grant and each phase of the formula grant.
Where to look a site up
- The Orphan Wells with Delinquent P-5 Greater Than 12 Months page links the Orphan Well Query, which searches by API Number, Operator, County, District, Field or Well Type, and the monthly spreadsheet.
- The State Managed Well Plugging page links the list of wells the state has yet to plug with its own funds, monthly reports on its orphan well plugging activity paid from the cleanup fund, and a well plugging data visualization.
- The Federally Funded Well Plugging page links the grant spreadsheets, the latest two running through the third quarter of federal fiscal year 2026, and the Commission's well plugging prioritization system.
- A plugged well's own papers, the Form W-3 plugging report among them, are found as the Oil and Gas Well Records page describes.
Getting the file
The Commission takes written requests under the Public Information Act by email to open.records@rrc.texas.gov, by fax to 512-463-6684, by mail to PO Box 12967, Austin, Texas 78711-2967, or in person, as its Procedures for Requesting Information page sets out. For a well, that page asks for its lease number, its API number, or the lease's exact name together with where the well is, and says a property description or street address will not serve. It says the records team aims to answer every request within 10 business days.
Sources
Railroad Commission of Texas pages, read October 15, 2026, no modified date shown except where one is given: