US releases more funding to tackle growing inventory of abandoned oil and gas wells in Oil & Companies News 12/06/2026 More federal dollars have been released to help US states tackle abandoned and methane-leaking oil and gas wells as operators continue to leave unsealed drill holes behind. The US Department of the Interior announced in late May it had “unlocked” additional funding allocated under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help plug and remediate such well sites, with $2 billion now available for state grants. The belated funding, while welcome, will not come close to solving what has become a growing headache for oil-rich states, experts agree. “Decommissioning wells and well sites is fundamentally burying money in the ground,” said Dwayne Purvis, a former oil industry executive who now consults with operators. “You’re doing work to create value that doesn’t earn a return. It benefits other people.”   While most companies responsibly close their wells, companies that go bankrupt or lack decommissioning funds often abandon depleted or uneconomic sites, Purvis said in an interview. The result is a backlog that falls on states and taxpayers. States struggle to keep up As of May 22, Texas regulators listed a record 12,345 orphaned oil and gas wells in the state’s inventory, up from 11,000 in late 2025 despite dozens of wells getting plugged every month. Texas received $79.7 million in federal funding to cap abandoned wells and expects to receive nearly $319 million over the life of the program. Ohio added 921 orphaned wells in 2025 to reach 2,533. The state sealed 480 wells that year, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. After receiving a $25 million initial federal grant in 2022, the state recently applied for another $30 million in matching grant funding released May 29. Louisiana had identified 4,600 orphaned wells in 2022 when it received an initial federal grant from Interior in 2022 and then capped nearly 600 wells using