Utah
Orphan Well Program
The Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining (DOGM) has run the state's program for plugging orphan wells since 1992. Its staff manage the program's fund and oversee the plugging of abandoned oil and gas wells around Utah. DOGM says the wells it must plug are those on state and private land.
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.
- Some wells are absent from DOGM's database. DOGM keeps a database of the orphan wells it knows of, recording facts such as each well's owner, its depth, whether it is an oil or a gas well, and when it was drilled, and its staff compare it with what they find in the field. Now and then they come on a well the database lacks. DOGM says these legacy wells were mostly drilled before 1955, when the Oil and Gas Commission (the Division today) was set up and before drilling rules existed, and that it does not think many remain. A well seen on the site visit or in an old photograph that appears on no list may be one. DOGM asks to hear of any abandoned well missing from its list.
- Leaking wells go first. DOGM ranks its orphan wells by risk at least once a year, and again when wells are added or its regular inspections call for it. Among the things it weighs are the condition of the well and its equipment, the well's depth, its pressure and the formations it passes through, and how near it is to water sources, to people and to other resources. A well that leaks, or shows a serious chance of leaking, is moved up for immediate work.
- Producers pay for it. Oil and gas producers fund the program through a levy of .002 on what their production is worth. The fund pays to plug and reclaim an orphan well when there is no reclamation surety or a forfeited one falls short of the cost. By DOGM's undated count, the program has 153 plugged wells to its name and about $5.7 million spent since it began, including $4.43 million from the orphan well fund.
Where to look a site up
- DOGM's Orphan Well Program page carries an embedded report of current orphaned wells, which this handbook did not open, and links the division's contact page for reporting an abandoned well that the report leaves out.
- A well's own papers are found as the Oil and gas well records page describes. DOGM's main number is 801-538-5340.
Getting the file
The DOGM pages read give no records request route of their own. DOGM's privacy notice says that under Utah law some of what is filed with it counts as a public record, which it may have to release when someone asks for it under the Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA). Ask the main office how DOGM takes such a request.
Sources
Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining pages, read October 17, 2026, no modified date shown: