Funding Notice: Undocumented Orphaned Well Characterization and Remediation

Office: Resource Sustainability
FOA number: DE-FOA-0003343
Download the full funding opportunity: FedConnect
Funding Amount: $15,000,000

Background Information

On September 13, 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced up to $15 million in federal funding to support research and development projects that help reduce methane emissions and other harmful environmental impacts from undocumented orphaned oil and natural gas wells. The focus is on projects that advance cost-effective technologies toward commercialization that address characterization, advanced remediation techniques, and long-term monitoring of undocumented orphaned wells. These technology innovations will help to further the Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to cut methane emissions by 30% compared with 2020 levels by 2030.

Undocumented orphaned wells are defined as idle wells for which the operator is unknown or insolvent. An undocumented orphaned well is a well that is not listed, or poorly documented in the responsible regulatory agency’s inventory. It is estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented orphaned wells currently leaking methane in the United States. 

While commercial remediation technologies exist for reducing methane and other emissions from undocumented orphaned wells, these technologies are not being adopted and employed as quickly as necessary to meet our climate goals. This is typically due to cost, material availability, well-specific variability, and operational factors.

Through this funding opportunity, DOE aims to enhance technologies and processes for effective characterization of undocumented orphaned wells; improve advanced sensors for the measurement, estimation, and tracking of methane emissions from these wells and their associated infrastructure; and support the development of new remediation concepts and advanced materials for more efficient and cost-effective permanent plugging and abandonment of such wells.

The deadline to submit applications for this funding opportunity has closed.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include individuals, institutions of higher education, for- and non-profit organizations, state and local governments, and tribal nations.

Areas of Interest 

This funding opportunity announcement has three areas of interest:

1. Advanced Remediation Techniques for Undocumented Orphaned Well Boreholes to address the need for novel and advanced remediation materials, such as biofilm or biochar technologies, for undocumented orphaned well boreholes in various conditions and with minimal surface disturbance.
2. Undocumented Orphaned Well Wellbore Characterization to address the need for surface deployable technologies that do not require entry into the wellbore to characterize wellbore conditions more effectively and determine the need for novel plugging and abandonment techniques in unique situations.
3. Long-Term Undocumented Orphaned Well Monitoring to address the need for cost-effective, long-term well monitoring techniques and technologies to measure and quantify methane emissions from undocumented orphaned wells.

Funding 

DOE expects to make up to 7 awards between $1.2 - $3.4 million each with a minimum of a 20% cost-sharing from the awardees.

Key Dates

Additional Information

• Download the full funding opportunity on FedConnect
• All applicants must register and apply on Grants.gov and submit questions through FedConnect 

Last Updated: September 13, 2024