RRC Begins Plugging on Coastal Orphaned Wells

RRC Begins Plugging on Coastal Orphaned Wells

AUSTIN, Texas - The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) will use its decades of experience to tackle a series of difficult and complex orphaned wells in the coastal waters of Baffin Bay.

The six orphaned wells located in the Cayo del Grullo region of the bay, roughly 40 miles south of Corpus Christi, will be plugged by the Commission's award-winning State Managed Plugging Program (SMP).

The abandoned gas wells will be plugged using funds from the $100M appropriated by the Texas Legislature last session to support emergency and technically challenging well plugging projects across the state where immediate action is required. These wells were observed by members of the local community to be leaking natural gas, prompting this response, which will include removing the well structure in addition to plugging.

The Commission is committed to protecting both public safety and the environment using a robust prioritization system, so that high-risk, high-priority wells are plugged first, protecting Texans from the most serious hazards.

This work is part of a broader operation in which the RRC and the Texas General Land Office (GLO) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) authorizing the Commission to plug wells in the areas of Baffin Bay, Humble Channel and Pita Island. The MOU also provides $3 million in funding from the GLO to support the project, which is anticipated to be completed later this year.

"Our substantial experience in managing unique well plugging operations gives us expertise that other agencies - and most importantly Texans - can rely on," said Wei Wang, RRC Executive Director. "The combination of the $100 million funding from the Legislature and GLO funding has given us the opportunity to be able to enact a permanent solution without sacrificing our plugging responsibility in other areas."

Last year, the RRC was awarded the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) Chair's Stewardship Award for Environmental Partnership in recognition of its leadership in a multi-stakeholder partnership to plug eight offshore orphaned wells in Matagorda Bay, one of the most complex offshore plugging and abandonment operations ever undertaken on orphaned wells in U.S. waters.

As of June 10, 2026, SMP has plugged 1,688 wells in fiscal year 2026, adding to the more than 47,000 wells the SMP has plugged across the state since 1984.